DUBAI — Saina Nehwal, who became the first Indian woman to claim the world No. 1 spot earlier in the year, looks certain to end her 2015 with an early departure from the Super Series finals in Dubai.
Nehwal's 21-14, 21-6 loss to Nozomi Okuhara, the lively world No. 9 from Japan, was ominous enough, but her explanation for the one-sidedness of the loss made it seem as if her season is all but over.
Nehwal admitted she has not been able to train since injuring an Achilles tendon three weeks ago, and her movement was just not light enough or enduring enough against Okuhara who, as she said, "gets everything back".
Worse still Nehwal is in a group containing the favorite, Carolina Marin of Spain, and the titleholder Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan.
Both of them look in decent shape, and both of them she would probably have to beat to be able to qualify for the semifinals.
"I'm not putting myself under any pressure to win these," she said. "It's going to be very, very, very tough."
Earlier Marin had to come from behind in the first game before starting impressively with a 21-16, 21-9 win over Tai Tzu Ying, and looks quite capable of adding the tour's flagship title to the world, All-England and four other Super Series titles she has won this year.
The acceleration towards victory she attributed partly to getting the shuttles replaced early on.
"They were too slow," Marin explained. "I had to get the speed changed and that made a difference."
The other women's winners were Wang Yihan, the former world champion, who won in three games against Wang Shixian, the former world No. 1, in an all-Chinese clash — though both look good enough still to qualify — and Ratchanok Intanon, another world champion, who is aged only 20.
Sheer refusal to accept failure characterized the performance of the young Thai, who stunningly saved four match points in a 19-21, 23-21, 21-14 victory over Sung Ji-Hyun, the world No. 4 from South Korea. Three of them came in a row from 17-20 in the second game.
Men's world champion, Chen Long, began his defense of the title with contributions on and off court which helped make up for the absence of his legendary compatriot Lin Dan.
Chen's was a composed and versatile performance in a 21-13, 21-13 victory over another Chinese teammate, Tian Houwei, after which he handled yet another of the many questions referring to the missing Olympic champion with diplomatic good humor.
Chen has become very much his own man now, and he was prepared to say whether he thought Lin Dan would be missed.
"Don't say that — Lin Dan won't be happy with it," he said, adding "every athlete sometimes doesn't feel well."
The other men's winners were the two Danes, Jan Jorgensen and Viktor Axelsen, and the Japanese Thomas Cup hero, Kento Momota, who scored a 21-13, 21-13 win over Kidambi Srikanth to complete India's difficult day.
