Dubai: The Indian challenge ended on the penultimate day of the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Badminton Finals being held at the Hamdan Sports Complex.

Saina Nehwal started off well before succumbing in three sets against Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying 21-11, 13-21, 9-21, while K Srikanth fought well in the first set before caving in to a 21-18, 21-9 defeat against world champion Chen Long of China in the men’s singles.

Facing Tai for the ninth time, Nehwal was in control in the opening set that she went on to win 21-11, but Tai fought back to draw level winning the second set 21-13. The third turned out to be a formality of sorts as Tai steamed ahead to win quite comfortably 21-9.

Nehwal was reflective after coming so close to her maiden appearance in the Superseries final. “She [Tai] is in good form at the moment. Maybe I could have played safer and avoided the unforced errors,” Nehwal told media.

Stepping in at the last minute as the ninth-ranked player, Tai was pleased at making her second straight entry in the finals. The 20-year-old had lost to China’s Shixian Wang in straight sets last year. “It is time to make up for that loss this year,” Tai said.

The Chinese Taipei player will take South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun, a 21-13, 21-13 winner over fast-improving Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.

Later in the evening, world champion Chen Long got the measure of K Srikanth before powering his way to an easy win over the fifth-ranked Indian.

Srikanth started off well, mixing aggression with deft touch at the net and was surprisingly up 11-5 at the first set change-over. And just when it looked like Srikanth would walk away with the first set as he led 18-15, the Chen drew on all his experience and took the set 21-18.

The second set did not see too much of a challenge from the Indian youngster as Chen kept things nice and tight to win 21-9 in 43 minutes to set a meeting in the final against either Jan O Jorgensen or Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark, who were scheduled to play the other semi-final later on Saturday.

“I should have won that first game. There are so many things that I did not do right. It’s all part of the learning process,” Srikanth said.

Easing into the final, the world’s best player promised he will be at his best in Sunday’s final. “It was a slow start for me once again. I am sure tomorrow will be completely different,” Chen said.

All five finals will be held starting from 2.30 pm at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Sunday.