An erratic Saina Nehwal let slip the early advantage as she went down to world number one Wang Yihan in the summit clash to sign off as runner-up in the BWF season-ending World Super Series Finals in Liuzhou, China today.
The world number four, the first Indian to make the final of the prestigious event, lost 21-18 13-21 13-21 against the Chinese in a contest lasting over an hour.
With this win, Yihan kept her 100 per cent record against Saina intact, having now beaten her in all their four faceoffs so far.
In the first game, leading 11-8, Saina failed to judge the sharp drops from Yihan who mixed her shots very well to deceive the Indian and narrow the gap.
Saina became anxious and lost a point for hitting outside before being called for a fault as Yihan made it 14-14.
With a powerful smash, Saina moved to 16-14 but a couple of weak net shots meant she allowed her rival to close the gap further 16-18.
A long rally which ended with Yihan hitting the shuttle out gave Saina a 19-16 lead. But Saina hit one out to hand the service over to Yihan and the Chinese made good use of it to narrow it down to 18-19.
Good netplay coupled with some precise cross-court shots gave Saina a game point and she made it count by pushing Yihan to yet another unforced error, stunning the home fans into silence.
