Saina Nehwal wins Hong Kong Super Series title

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Hong Kong: Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal won the Hong Kong Super Series title by beating Wang Shixian of China in the finals on Sunday. In a keenly contested match Saina fought back from being a game down to win: 15-21, 21-16, 21-17.Saina, who dropped to fourth in the world rankings, is likely to inch closer to the number one spot with this victory.Earlier, Saina fought her way to the Hong Kong Super Series final with a gruelling three-game victory over sixth seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in Wanchai on Saturday.

The second seeded Indian registered a 21-19, 17-21, 21-12 win over Juliane in a 53-minute women's singles semifinal match.

In a battle of nerves, Saina was trailing 8-12 but the Indian won four straight points to first catch up with the German and then level 17-17 before marching ahead to pocket the first game.

But the Hyderabadi couldn't hold onto the lead in the second game and from 5-5, Juliane moved ahead in strides to bounce back into the match.

In the decider, Saina gave no chance to her rival, opened a 6-1 lead and surged ahead to 11-3 and 19-9 before wrapping up the match.

This was Saina's fifth title of the year, which includes three Super Series wins and the Commonwealth Games gold.

The Hong Kong Open was the fourth Super Series title for Saina, who won her first Super Series crown at the Indonesian Open last year and retained it this year.