ODENSE, Denmark – Olympic bronze-medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal fought through a troubling knee to clinch her fourth title of the year by lifting the Denmark Open Super Series Premier trophy with a dominating win in the final here Sunday. Saina, 22, who was competing in her first tournament after the London Games, won 21-17, 21-8 against sixth seed German Juliane Schenk in 35 minutes to notch up her second Super Series Premier title which fetched her $30,000 from a total purse of $400,000. “I thank Denmark and the Indian fans here for supporting me. I never expected to win this tournament,” an elated Saina said after the win which took her overall lead against Schenk to 6-3. “There were a lot of things which I did after Olympics which made me fresh but every tournament is tough. My right knee was not really in perfect shape but I thank god for giving me the energy to win the title,” said Saina who had beaten world No. 1 Yihan Wang in the semifinals. The triumph marked another high for the Indian shuttle queen who had successfully defended her Swiss Open title by defeating world No. 2 Wang Shixian of China a day after she turned 22 in March. In June, Saina lifted the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title before winning the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier by defeating world number three Li Xuerui of China. It was her third Indonesia Open title. — Agencies
