Saina fails to reach Indian Open semi-final
March 27th, 2009 - 10:58 pm ICT by ANIHyderabad, Mar 27 (ANI): India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Indian Open on Friday after losing a tough quarter-final encounter of the Women’s singles badminton to Malaysia’s Julia Pei Xian.
World number nine, Saina lost to fifth-seed, Xian 21-12, 13-21, 18-21.
This was the fourth encounter between the two players, in which Saina leads 3-1.
Saina was put on the back foot right from the start as her Malaysian rival opened up a 4-0 lead. But, Saina came back strongly to draw level at 6-6 and then grabbed the lead at 10-13. The Malaysian pocketed two more points but Saina soon raced away, winning the game 21-12.
But in the next game the Malaysian walked away with the second game 21-13. The third game witnessed a see-saw battle as the duo moved neck and neck from 6-6 to 14-14.
The home favourite put up a brave fight and narrowed the gap to 19-18 but the Malaysian had the last laugh. (ANI)
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- Saina loses to Xin Wang in Malaysian Open Grand Prix final (Lead) - May 08, 2011
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- Olympic badminton: World No.1 Wang Yihan too good for Saina (Lead) - Aug 03, 2012
- Saina, Aditi in quarters, Kashyap falters in Badminton Asia Championships (Lead) - Apr 15, 2010
- CWG badminton: Saina, Chetan move to third round - Oct 10, 2010
- Saina, Kashyap shine on a gloomy day for India at Badminton Asian (Roundup) - Apr 15, 2010
- India Open Super Series: Saina makes a tearful first round exit (Roundup) - Apr 27, 2011
- CWG Badminton: Saina, Gutta-Ponappa in final; Kashyap loses (Roundup) - Oct 13, 2010
- Saina bows out of Indian Open badminton - Mar 27, 2009
- Saina fights her way into Malaysian Open semis - Jan 13, 2012
- Olympics: Saina, Vijender within sniffing distance of a medal (Overall Roundup) - Aug 03, 2012
- Asian badminton: Ajay Jayaram goes down fighting - Apr 18, 2012
Tags: ace, badminton, brave fight, fifth seed, final encounter, gap, hyderabad, India, last laugh, next game, number nine, pei xian, saina nehwal, second game, third game, winning the game