Exhausted Ratchanok out of Masters
Thai badminton star Ratchanok Intanon was left ruing a gruelling schedule after making a shock exit in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters semi-finals in Jakarta yesterday.
The world No 4 lost 21-19 21-19 to former world No 1 Saina Nehwal of India but her sub-par fitness was evident in her being forced to play with her left knee taped, a result of eight tough matches in a week that included winning her first event of the year, the Malaysia Masters.
“I didn’t play my game and my physical condition was affected by playing too many matches,” she said. “I Also made too many errors today and will try to improve this weak point in my next event in India”
The first game featured several high-quality shots with Ratchanok taking the lead several times at 11-7 and 18-16 respectively.
She was actually two points away from the first game at 19-18 before a string of costly errors started creeping into her game.
Her failed drop-shot allowed Nehwal to draw level at 19-all, she then sprayed a shot wide to face game point at 20-19 and she then surrendered the opener by burying a smash into the net after 21 minutes.
The tough week gradually took a greater toll on Ratchanok in the second game, in which she moved more slowly, her errors increased and she fell 9-2 down.
She found a second wind, briefly, to fight back from 17-12 down to 17-all, trading intriguing rallies with the Nehwal, who led her 8-5 in their head-to-head record prior to the match.
The Thai misjudged a shot from Nehwal and let it drop on her side of the court to face match point at 20-18 and although she saved it with a well-disguised drop-shot, she finally had no gas left in the tank, collapsing on court in exhaustion after failing in a long rally.
Ratchanok next heads to India for her third straight BWF World Tour Super 500, which will take place in New Delhi on Tuesday.
