PI Hongyan exacted revenge for her exit from the knockout stages of the Super Series Masters Finals at the hands of Saina Nehwal mid-December within a month of that shock result.

Playing the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Super Series, the French veteran earned a 21-17, 24-26, 21-16 victory over the fifth-seeded Indian in 56 minutes, the encounter characterised by long rallies, as Nehwal’s challenge petered out in the final game after a stiff comeback in the second.

“My dribbles kept going out, and I wasn’t too comfortable as my net-game wasn’t too good on this day. I couldn’t move very well either,” Nehwal said. “In the second game, all I was thinking of was winning despite being 16-19 down. I could pull that off and push the match into the decider.”