Sydney : Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal produced a spirited fight back as she outclassed China’s Sun Yu to clinch her maiden title of the season at the Australian Open Super Series here on Sunday.
After going down in the first-game, seventh-seed Saina rebounded strongly to register a 11-21, 21-14, 21-19 triumph over her Chinese compatriot in the gruelling summit showdown of the women’s singles event that lasted one hour and 11 minutes.
With her second Australian Open title, Saina has also improved her head-to-head record with Sun Yu to 6-1.
The 26-year-old had earlier snapped her semi-final jinx after claiming a straight-game victory over second seed Wang Yihan of China.
Earlier, Saina had struggled to breach the last-four stage in the major tournaments as she made a slew of semifinal finishes at the Swiss Grand Prix Gold, India Super Series, Malaysia Super Series Premier Open and Asia Badminton Championships. (ANI)