Top-seed Saina Nehwal crashes out of Macau Open, loses to unseeded Zhang Yiman

New Delhi: Top-seed Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal suffered a shock defeat to unseeded Zhang Yiman in the quarter-finals of Macau Open.

Saina lost in straight sets (12-21, 17-21) in a match that lasted 34 minutes.

The 228-ranked Chinese shuttler began the first game on impressive note and quickly took an 11-8 lead against her Indian opponent.

Zhang claimed the next 10 points too and conceded only 3 points in the process.

As the second game begane, Saina showed some grit to claim a 5-0 lead but the 19-year-old Yiman fought back to take an 11-9 at halfway mark.

Yiman continued her dominance and took 19-12 lead before Nehwal showed brief resistance to bridge the gap to 16-19.

The Indian shuttler could not continue her comeback from here on and lost the second game 21-17.

After a gruelling win in three games over Indonesian Dinar Dyah Ayustine in her last-16 clash, Saina was certainly hoping to continue her journey all they way to the final of the tournament but a quarter-final appearance is all she could manage.

Saina crashed out at the same stage in Hong Kong Open earlier this month and was knocked out in first-round loss in the China Open.

B Sai Praneeth, who is now the only Indian left in the tournament, will take on Chinese Zhao Jun Peng later today.