New Delhi: World number one and defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of Australian Open Super Series on Friday, after losing to Wang Shixian of China in the quarterfinals.
Fifth seeded Wang dominated the match from the beginning and registered an emphatic 21-15, 21-13 victory over the second seeded Indian ace.
With Saina’s defeat, Indian challenge in Down Under came to an end as others had failed to reach the quarterfinal stage in Sydney.
Saina, who had beaten Sun thrice in the last four meetings, came out with a well-thought strategy as she broke off at 5-5 and entered the interval with a 11-6 lead.Sun played better after the interval to slowly narrow the gap before clawing back at 18-18, but a determined Saina zoomed ahead to pocket the opening game.
The Indian could have wrapped up the match in the second game itself as she had a huge six-point lead at 13-7 but Sun almost snatched the lead away after levelling the score at 13-13.
An alert Saina held her nerves and moved to 18-15 but she could not stop a fighting Sun, who roared back into the contest with a three-point burst from 18-19 behind.
In the decider, Saina didn’t allow Sun to threaten her in anyway as she led from the start and at one stage was comfortably placed at 12-4.
Though the Chinese tried to erase the deficit, Saina made sure there was no more hiccups and eventually sealed the issue in her favour.