Odense (Denmark), Oct 20: India's Saina Nehwal will face Juliane Schenk of Germany in the final of the Yonex Denmark Open Super Series Premier here today.

Since the shuttler who won a bronze at the London Olympics has won five of her eight matches against Schenk till date, Saina is the favourite in the final though the latter had thwarted her the last time they played. The Indian ace will look to avenge that loss in the final of the 2011 Japan Open.

Yesterday, Saina got the better of China's Yihan Wang in the semi final. The World No 1 was trailing 12-21, 7-12 when she retired hurt citing a knee injury.

Saina started poorly and even lagged 0-5 at one stage. However, she staged a remarkable rally to easily win the first game. In the second one too, she used deep tosses and cross-court smashes along with deft drops to defeat an opponent whom she had lost to six times in the past two and half years.

The other semi final between eight seed Yanjiao Jiang of China and Schenk was more closely fought. The Chinese player bagged the first game but she could not prevent the German from restoring parity in the next. Schenk then inched ahead in the decider to complete a 13-21, 21-14, 21-15 victory.

OneIndia News