Macau Open | Saina Nehwal bows out in quarterfinals
Top-seed Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Macau Open on Friday after she went down to unseeded Zhang Yiman of China 12-21, 17-21 in the quarterfinal. In the men's singles, Sai Praneeth also exited the tournament, losing in straight games to Japan's Zhao Jun Peng 21-19, 21-9.
After losing all her opening round matches at the tournament, Saina Nehwal did well to reach the
In a match that lasted just 35 minutes, Saina trailed the first game 2-4 against the unseeded Zhang but managed to cut the lead to 8-9. But the Chinese won five consecutive points to go 14-8 clear of the Indian and then went to win the game by a margin of 21-12.
In the second game, however, Saina started brightly going 5-0 up but Zhang clawed her way back into the match to take back the lead at 11-9. The teenager then opened up a seven-point lead at 19-12 before Saina was able to bridge the gap to 16-19. But Zhang held on to her nerves to take the game and the match at 21-17, condemning Saina to yet another quarterfinal loss after the Indian crashed out of the Hong Kong Open at the same stage.
India's journey in the tournament came to an end later in the day, as Sai Praneeth lost his quarterfinal match to Japan's Zhao Jun Peng. Despite putting up a fight before losing the first game by 21-19, there was little resistance from Praneeth in the second game as the Japanese wrapped up the match by winning 21-9.