Srikanth and Saina run out of steam, crash out of World Superseries Finals

DUBAI: Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal learnt more about their weaknesses than their strengths as they crashed out of the semifinals at the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals here on Saturday.
While Srikanth's errors at the net and his weak defence against China's Chen Long cost him a spot in the final of the $1 million event, Saina Nehwal's fitness played a massive part in her defeat against Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
Srikanth, bidding to become the first Indian shuttler to make the final and perhaps win the season-ending championship, was left disappointed after Chen made short work of the last-four clash winning 21-18, 21-9. Despite a strong start to the first game that saw him lead 18-15 at one point, the world No. 6 fell victim to his rival's experience. "I should have won the first game. To go up 18-15 and lose at this level feels horrible," Srikanth said after the 43-minute clash against the world No. 2. "Perhaps if I had won the first game my approach in the second would have been different," he said.
Srikanth's defence looked markedly exposed in the sec ond game, as Chen dominated the tie en route to improving his 2-0 win-loss record against the Indian. "There are quite a few aspects of my game I need to work on, not just my defence," admitted Srikanth. "But I have confidence in my game and I will work harder to get better."
Earlier in the day, Saina fell victim to fatigue and the brilliance of Tai. Saina, who held a superior 5-3 win-loss record over her 20-year-old rival coming into the match, lost 21-11, 13-21, 9-21 in 54 minutes. After taking the first game with relative ease, world No. 4 Saina appeared to suffer from a lack of belief as her opponent began to slow the game down. The long rallies took their toll on Saina who looked a couple of notches below her rival fitnesswise.
"I was tired when the second game began. Yesterday's game was tough on me," Saina said, referring to her three-game win over Yeon Ju Bae. "I gave my best but Tai has some difficult strokes which you can't pick up unless you are fit. You have to keep on running all the time as well. Perhaps I could have played a bit more safe and avoided the mistakes I made," she said.
The decider saw world No.9 operate purely on instinct as she combined her relentless retrieving with amazing cross-court backhand shots.