Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals

[sameerph]

We can use this same thread to follow world superseries final which will be held in Dubai in next 3 years staring with this year which will be next week starting from 17th December to 21st December.

Srikanth and Saina have qualified for this year's final.

These are the players who have qualified for the finals -

Men’s Singles:

Chen Long (China,2)
Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark,3)
Son Wan Ho (Korea,4)
Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia,5)
Kenichi Tago (Japan,6).
Kidambi Srikanth (India,8)
Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark,12)
Kento Momota (Japan,15)


Women’s Singles:
Wang Shixian (China,2)
Wang Yihan (China,3)
Saina Nehwal (India,4)
Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand,7)
Sung Ji Hyun (Korea.5)
Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei,6)
Bae Yeon Ju (Korea,9)
Akane Yamaguchi (Japan,17).

[bujilover]

Good luck to Sri and Saina

[sameerph]

The draws were made today where Saina was one of the players representative.

These are the groups -

Men's Singles :
Group A
1) Chen Long (CHN)
2) Son Wan Ho (KOR)
3) Kenichi Tago (JPN)
4) Hans Kristian Vittinghus (DEN)

Group B
1) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN)
2) Kidambi Srikanth (IND)
3) Kento Momota (JPN)
4) Tommy Sugiarto (INA)

Women's Singles :
Group A
1) Wang Shixian (CHN)
2) Saina Nehwal (IND)
3) Sung Ji Hyun (KOR)
4) Bae Yeon Ju (KOR)

Group B
1) Wang Yihan (CHN)
2) Ratchanok Intanon (THA)
3) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE)
4) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)

I think Saina has got a tougher group as Group B contains 3 players whom she has a very favourable record. Also, if she finished runner up in her group she is likely to face her nemesis Yihan Wang in the SF.

If Srikanth is in the same sort of form as in the last 2 weeks of tournaments he played, he has a fair chance of going thru to the SF which itself will be an achievement for him.

[Sin Hombre]

Agreed sameer.

On the flipside, WSX is the only top Chinese that Saina does beat occasionally so she has a slight chance of winning the group.

[sameerph]

Tomorrow on the opening day, Saina plays her toughest match of the group against Shixian Wang at around 7 pm local time. Saina is 5-5 head to head against WSX but is 1-3 this year.

This is immediately followed by Srikanth's match against Japanese Kento Momota . Srikanth is 1-2 against Momota and has won their last match last month at China open which Srikanth won.

[prashanthm]

[RR1] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) d. Wang Shixian (CHN,2) 21-17 21-18

Saina was running away with the first game after winning 10 straight points from 8-10, but let Shixian back to 17 before closing it out.....
Can she close it out in straights?

Saina was trailing 4-8 and 6-9, bu came back strongly to wrap it up in straights.....
What a win to start the tournament!!!

[sameerph]

Yes, great start by Saina. She was just so happy in the end that she did not let it slip as she had in her last match against WSX.

Now, time to step up and beat the 2 Koreans to win the group.

[sameerph]

Srikanth tied 1 game all in his match.

[RR1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) vs. Kento Momota (JPN,15) 15-21 21-16

Great comeback by Srikanth in second game coming back from 0-5 and 10-12 down. Can he keep up the momentum ?

[sameerph]

And he thrashes the Japanese in third game.

[RR1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) d. Kento Momota (JPN,15) 15-21 21-16 21-10

Sri.

Perfect start for us in Dubai.

[prashanthm]

Fantastic win for Srikanth......

Jan & Srikanth have a chance to book their SF berths tomorrow, if they win against Sugiarto and Momota respectively....

[sameerph]

Today, Srikanth plays Tommy Sugiarto and Saina plays Sung Ji Hyun of Korea in second round of round robin matches. If they win today, they will be more or less assured of SF places.

[Omkara]

[RR1] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) d. Wang Shixian (CHN,2) 21-17 21-18

Saina was running away with the first game after winning 10 straight points from 8-10, but let Shixian back to 17 before closing it out.....
Can she close it out in straights?

Saina was trailing 4-8 and 6-9, bu came back strongly to wrap it up in straights.....
What a win to start the tournament!!!

where did this come from. Change of coach working for her

[prashanthm]

where did this come from. Change of coach working for her

It probably is working for her, may be because she is more comfortable now rather than the new coach bringing in something new and radical.....
Vimal was on the courtside yesterday for Saina's match and Gopi wasn't there....

[sameerph]

Srikanth wins the first game 21-18 against Tommy Sugiarto.

[prashanthm]

In Srikanth's group, Momota defeats Jan today to break the group open...

So, even if Srikanth wins today, a SF spot is not guaranteed yet as there is a chance that Momota could win against Sugiarto and Srikanth could lose to Jan making it a 3-way tie with two wins each...