Sydney: World number one women’s singles and defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of Australian Open Super Series on Friday, after losing to Wang Shixian of China in the quarterfinals.
5th seeded Wang dominated the match from the beginning and registered an emphatic 21-15, 21-13 victory over the second seeded Indian ace.
Saina Nehwal could not live up to her reputation of being a gritty fighter against the Chinese on Friday and lost the last 8 encounter in straight games in just 42 minutes.
Meanwhile, women’s singles top seeded Li Xuerui of China failed to produce her best game at the Sydney Olympic Park and was outplayed in 63 minutes by 7th seeded Sung Ji Hyun of Korea.
The Korean was better on the attack to finish the first set 21-17 over Li Xuerui. At the start of the second game, Li started to show her dominance and held her lead from beginning to end by winning 21-10. The London Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui couldn’t find any answers to the ruthless Sung Ji Hyun in the decider, when the Korean successfully shut the door on Li to win the third set 21-17.
Sung Ji Hyun will take on Carolina Marin of Spain in the women’s singles semi-final on Saturday, while another Korean shuttler Bae Yeon Ju will clash with former world No.1 Wang Shixian of China in another semi-final.
