Super Saina wins Series

Saina Nehwal (20) underlined her growing stature in world badminton with a comfortable 21-18, 21-15 win over giant killer Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei to win the Singapore Open and bag her second Super Series crown.

Nehwal, who won her maiden Grand Prix level title back in 2006, took just 32 minutes to wrap up the tie on Sunday despite an indifferent start that saw her opponent take a big lead in the opening game.

But the world number 6 exploited the inexperience of Tai to not only recover from a 14-18 score line in the opening game, and soon achieved her second title in two weeks.

Nehwal had won the India Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in Chennai last week.

"It’s a great feeling to win back-to-back titles. It proves I have the endurance levels to play consistently at this level,” said Nehwal, the only Indian woman to have achieved a world ranking of five.

Saina will now aim to complete a hat-trick of titles in Jakarta where she launches her defence of the Indonesia Super Series crown on Wednesday. “I feel I am still in good shape to go the distance,” she added.