Lucknow, Jan 25 : Top seed Saina Nehwal Saturday said her patience in the women's singles semifinal at the $120,000 India Grand Prix Gold helped her win the match against Chinese sixth seed Xuan Deng.

The World No. 9 had to dig deep to oust the 2010 Youth Olympics silver medallist 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 in a marathon match which lasted an hour and 20 minutes at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

"If you play too aggressively, it can break down your concentration and against Chinese players, you need to be patient because they can change the pace of the game anytime. So I had to fight it out for the win," said Saina, who faces compatriot and second seed P. V. Sindhu in the final Sunday.

"This match was very important as I reached a final after a long time. I got a bit emotional at the end. I had a lost some very close games recently so I was patiently playing for each and every point which eventually helped me win," the Hyderabadi added.

This is Saina's first final since the French Open Super Series in October 2012 when she lost to Japan's Minatsu Mitani.(IANS)