New Delhi: Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the India Open with straight-game defeats, bringing the home challenge to an end at the Super Series badminton tournament here on Friday.
World number eight Saina, who reached her maiden Indian Open quarterfinal on Thursday, saved four match points against her nemesis Yihan Wang before going down 16-21, 14-21 in a 39-minute women’s singles contest for her eighth defeat to the Chinese.
Kashyap, on the other hand, brought some cheer to his fans with his efforts on the court even though he could not stop world number one Lee Chong Wei, losing 15-21, 13-21 in a 40-minute men’s singles match.
Up against a familiar foe in Yihan, Saina tried to put pressure only to falter with her strokes and could not finish off the points. Her strokes were inaccurate and lot of the retrieves were buried at the net.
Saina admitted she made too many errors.
“Yihan is a strong opponent for all the players. And it’s not that we cannot beat her. But sometimes few errors make a difference and today I gave her a huge lead,” said Saina, who had lost to Yihan in Swiss Open last month.
“From the net, a lot of my pushes were hitting the net which was not necessary. I need to make sure that I get it right in the next tournament. Every tournament is a learning experience and I hope I play safe and keep the shuttle in the court.”
The 24-year-old said she played better against Yihan but needs to work on her fitness and net play.
Lee said it was a tough match against Kashyap.
“Every year, I enjoy being here for India Open. Thanks to the organisers and sponsors, they always call me to come to India Open and I enjoy here,” he said.
“Kashyap played very well today. I had to change my game and I started playing more attacking and faster game. I think today he played better, it was tougher than our previous meetings,” said Lee, who will take on seventh seed Chinese Du Pengyu on Saturday in the semifinal round. (PTI)
