Saina Nehwal picked up the Indonesia Masters title as Spain's Carolina Marin retired with an injury when leading 10-4 in the opening game of their final in Jakarta on Sunday.
Marin picked up the first three points, moving Saina around the court with ease, before Saina registered her first point when Marin found the net with an attempted forehand drop. Saina was able to win another point at 1-5, but Marin responded with a powerful forehand smash across Saina's backhand to reclaim the advantage.
Up 9-2, Marin appeared to seriously injure her right knee when executing an overhead forehand smash on the jump, missing out on making contact with Saina's return. Marin continued playing, and won her next point with a smash at Saina's body.
Saina then won the next point, and that's when Marin decided she was in no state to continue with the contest. Speaking after her win, Saina said, " (It is a) very important year for all of us. She started off very well, and she was very unfortunate today. I think Indonesia is one of my luckiest places. It's my eighth final here, and that's a great thing for me. I would like to thank the fans here. I just came out of a shin injury for five weeks. I just played these two tournaments to see how I was feeling, and I was really lucky to make the semi-finals of Malaysia and the finals here."
