Jakarta, June 20 (IANS): India's top ranked shuttler Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Indonesian Open badminton tournament after she lost her women's single quarter-finals tie to top seeded Li Xuerui of China at the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex here Friday.
Saina, who was seeded eighth, put on a tough fight but went down 20-22, 15-21 to Xuerui. The Indian now has a 2-7 win-loss record against her Chinese opponent.
The first game was an extremely close battle as they were tied at 5-5 early on but the Chinese showed her class and quickly opened up a 10-6 lead. But Saina was showing no signs of giving up and won five consecutive points to take lead at 11-10. From then it was a thrilling battle that saw Xuerui edge past narrowly.
Xuerui was in complete control of the proceedings in the second game as she quickly took a lead of 10-4. For Saina it was a catching-up job and finally she lost the game 15-21.
Xuerui will next face unseeded Thai girl Nichaon Jindapon, who won 17-21, 21-14, 22-20 against sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae of South Korea.