Saina Nehwal - 2010

2010

• Saina successfully led the Indian Women Team to the Quarter-finals stage of the 2010 Uber Cup finals.

• Saina became the first Indian Woman to reach the semi finals of 2010 All-England Super Series before losing to eventual champion Tine Rasmussen.

• Top seeded Saina reached the semifinals of Yonex Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010 losing out to unseeded eventual champion Li Xuerui of China. Saina's Coach Gopichand advised her not exert too much pressure on herself due to the overwhelming home crowd support.

• Saina wins the 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold, beating Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in the final and thus justifying her billing as top seed in the tournament. She won a prize money of $8,280 for winning this BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament.

• Saina Nehwal, again seeded no.1 in the Singapore Open Super Series 2010, entered the finals defeating World champion Lu Lan of China

• Saina won the second Super Series title of her career by beating qualifier Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in the final of the Singapore Open 21–18, 21–15. But the fact that she won the tournament in the absence of all the top 5 ranked players (who all happen to be Chinese), takes a little sheen away from her path breaking victory. Saina won a prize money of $15,000 for winning this BWF Super Series tournament.

• Saina has reached a career high of world no. 3 in the women's singles badminton world rankings on 24 June 2010.

• Saina defended her Indonesia Open super series title in three tough games against Sayaka Sato of Japan, 21–19 / 13–21 / 21–11.This is her third super series title and her third successive title following wins at Indian open, Singapore Super series. She again won the top prize money of $18,750 for winning this BWF Super Series tournament.

• On 15 July 2010, with 64791.26 points Saina Nehwal reached a career high world ranking of No. 2 only behind Wang Yihan of China.

• 2nd seed Saina, a tournament favourite, crashed out of the 2010 BWF World Championships in Paris after losing to 4th ranked Chinese Wang Shixian in straight sets 8–21, 14–21. She although equalled her tournament best performance, as she was also a losing quarter-finalist in the last edition held in Hyderabad. She subsequently dropped a spot to be No. 3 in the world rankings.

• Top seed Saina, won the gold medal in the Women's Singles badminton event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. She beat Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 19–21 23–21 21–13. After her win Saina said, “when I was a match-point down, it was like a shock. It was a big match and winning it means a lot to me. Even many years from now, those present here will always remember how Saina won the gold. It is a proud feeling.”

• In the BWF Super Series ranking for the year 2010 (which only considers the performances of players in the elite world super series tournaments), as on 27 September 2010, Saina has dropped to No. 7 from a high of No. 1 after giving a miss to 2010 China Masters Super Series and 2010 Japan Super Series due to her preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As on 5 Dec 2010, for the first time in the year Saina Nehwal dropped out of the top 10 best performers in the 2010 BWF Super Series rankings.

• Saina Nehwal confirmed her participation for the 2010 Hong Kong Super series to held from 7 to 12 Dec 2010 and is also the penultimate super series tournament of the year. This would be Saina's first super series tournament after a gap of more than 5 months since her win in the 2010 Indonesia Super Series in June 2010.

• On 12 December 2010, Saina Nehwal defeated Wang Shixian 15–21, 21–16, 21–17 in the final of the 2010 Hong Kong Super Series to win her fourth career Super Series title.