Saina shown the door in Singapore Open quartefinals

India’s Saina Nehwal crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament, losing 21-17, 13-21, 13-21 to world number 13 Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia.

The Indian begun well, pocketing the first game before Fanetri rallied to win the next two game and seal a place in the semifinals.

Saina kickstarted proceedings on a robust note, showing good reflexes at the net as well as delivering consistent winners to race away to a decent lead.

The Indian, who dropped two spots to number four in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, collected four straight points to stay ahead of the world number 13 Indonesian, and closed the opening game at 21-17.

The Indian, who skipped this event last year as she was preparing for the London Olympics, suffered a lapse in concentration in the second game, allowing Fanetri to wrest the initiative.

The Indonesian logged four crucial points on the trot to consolidate her position before clinching the second game at 21-13.

Fanetri was soaring on confidence after her second game win. She won nine consecutive points to lead 12-3, leaving Saina in a tricky position.

The Indonesian widened the points gap to 17-9 before landing the winning punch at 21-13 in a contest that lasted fifty seven minutes.

Saina had recently beaten Fanetri in the Thailand Open in three games.

Earlier, Saina Nehwal dug deep into her reserves to put it across world number 11 Eriko Hirose of Japan 16-21, 21-16, 21-9 to storm into the last-eight stage.

The Indian outlasted Singapore’s world number 21 Juan Gu in straight games 21-14, 23-21 in the opening round to exact sweet revenge on her opponent, who showed her the championship exit door in the quarterfinals of the recently-held SGC Thailand Open in three games.

It may be pertinent to mention that the Indian shuttlers have dished out eye-catching performances after a modest start to the year.

The country’s shuttlers have reigned supreme in the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open held in their backyard in New Delhi, where India’s 38th ranked Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles semifinals and went down to Japan’s Kenichi Tago in the semifinals.

PV Sindhu also reached the women’s singles semifinals in the same event, where she went down to Thailand’s talented youngster Ratchanok Intanon.

PV Sindhu subsequently scaled a new career high when she won her maiden singles crown – taking the Malaysian Open.

But it was K Srikanth who helped Indian badminton touch a new high when he won his maiden singles crown – bagging the Thailand Open stunning Boonsak Ponsana in front of his home crowd in straight games. In fact, Srikanth did not drop a single game in the entire tournament.