SYDNEY, May 29 (PTI): Indian challenge ended at the Australian Open Super Series after ace shuttler Saina Nehwal suffered a straight-game defeat against China�s Shixian Wang in the women�s singles quarterfinals of the badminton tournament here today.
World No.1 Saina failed to stick to her game plan and suffered a 15-21, 13-21 loss to two-time All England Champion and fifth seed Shixian in a 41-minute clash. It was Saina�s sixth defeat against the Chinese in 12 meetings.
In the opening game, Saina had grabbed a slender lead of 4-2 but Shixian soon wrested control of the match and went into the break at 11-8.
Slowly and steadily, Saina clawed back to 14-14 but a ruthless Shixian reeled off six straight points to grab a massive six game point at 20-14 and then pocketed the match without much ado.
