Saina's loss ends India's campaign at Indonesia Open

IANS

Jakarta, June 3 (IANS) India's campaign at the Indonesian Open Superseries badminton ended after star shuttler Saina Nehwal went down to World No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain in the quarter-finals of the women's singles here on Friday.

It was the World No.8 Saina's third loss in their last four face-offs as the Spaniard took just 47 minutes to win in straight games 24-22, 21-11 at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium here.

In the opening game, Saina came back from being 7-13 down to grab the lead 16-14 and then 19-16 only to let the advantage slip as the Spaniard earned the bragging rights.

In the second game, the 22-year-old started dominating from the start, taking a 4-1 lead before extending it to 11-5 and then went on her rampaging form to take the game away from the three-time champion from Hyderabad.

Saina, seeded eighth, had earlier defeated local favourite Fitriani Fitriani to reach the last eight.

Carolina will now face World No.3 Wang Yihan of China, who defeated South Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the other quarter-final.

--IANS

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