<p>A resurgent Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising PV Sindhu set up a summit clash at the Indian Grand Prix Gold after emerging victorious in their respective semifinals here on Saturday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Saina reached her first finals in 15 months after prevailing over China’s Xuan Deng 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 while Sindhu surpassed Lindaweni Fanetri from Indonesia 21-6, 12-21, 21-17 to set up a their first ever international clash against each other at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor stadium here.<br /><br />The two, however, have played at the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) last year where London Olympics bronze medallist Saina got the better of the Sindhu on two occasions.<br /><br />In men’s category, K Srikanth sailed into the final by overcoming compatriot H S Prannoy 21-18, 22-20, while young Aditya Prakash could not extend his dream run as he went down 10-21, 7-21 against ninth seed Xue Song of China in the other semifinal.<br /><br />The women’s singles semifinal clash between Saina and Xuan turned out to be a edge-of-the-seat thriller even though 40 ranking places separated the two.<br /><br />Saina, the top seed, was untouchable in the first game as she kept a distance right from the start to the end even though Xuan kept fighting.<br /><br />In the second game, Xuan opened up a slender 6-4 lead early on but Saina swiftly made it 7-7. However, the Chinese gathered five straight points to grab the lead at 15-14 and with Saina succumbing to unforced errors, Xuan roared back into the contest.<br /><br />In the decider, Saina was erratic as her shots went wide and long and in a flash she was lagging 0-7. The Indian drew her first point with a crosscourt smash and then engaged in a fierce rally and slowly climbed her way to equalise at 8-8 when Xuan hit one long.<br /><br />A net play gave Xuan a point and the Chinese picked up two more point, catching Saina at the nets, to lead 11-8. Saina was too eager to finish the rallies earlier but the Indian slowly changed her game and made the Chinese run the court. <br /><br />The left-handed Chinese kept the pressure on Saina but the Indian held her nerve and sealed the win.</p>
<p>A resurgent Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising PV Sindhu set up a summit clash at the Indian Grand Prix Gold after emerging victorious in their respective semifinals here on Saturday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Saina reached her first finals in 15 months after prevailing over China’s Xuan Deng 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 while Sindhu surpassed Lindaweni Fanetri from Indonesia 21-6, 12-21, 21-17 to set up a their first ever international clash against each other at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor stadium here.<br /><br />The two, however, have played at the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) last year where London Olympics bronze medallist Saina got the better of the Sindhu on two occasions.<br /><br />In men’s category, K Srikanth sailed into the final by overcoming compatriot H S Prannoy 21-18, 22-20, while young Aditya Prakash could not extend his dream run as he went down 10-21, 7-21 against ninth seed Xue Song of China in the other semifinal.<br /><br />The women’s singles semifinal clash between Saina and Xuan turned out to be a edge-of-the-seat thriller even though 40 ranking places separated the two.<br /><br />Saina, the top seed, was untouchable in the first game as she kept a distance right from the start to the end even though Xuan kept fighting.<br /><br />In the second game, Xuan opened up a slender 6-4 lead early on but Saina swiftly made it 7-7. However, the Chinese gathered five straight points to grab the lead at 15-14 and with Saina succumbing to unforced errors, Xuan roared back into the contest.<br /><br />In the decider, Saina was erratic as her shots went wide and long and in a flash she was lagging 0-7. The Indian drew her first point with a crosscourt smash and then engaged in a fierce rally and slowly climbed her way to equalise at 8-8 when Xuan hit one long.<br /><br />A net play gave Xuan a point and the Chinese picked up two more point, catching Saina at the nets, to lead 11-8. Saina was too eager to finish the rallies earlier but the Indian slowly changed her game and made the Chinese run the court. <br /><br />The left-handed Chinese kept the pressure on Saina but the Indian held her nerve and sealed the win.</p>