Saina Nehwal crashes out in first round of China Open

Saina Nehwal was knocked out of the China Open Super 750 tournament after she lost her first round match to Cai Yan Yan of China 9-21, 12-21.

Saina Nehwal was beaten in straight games to make early exit.

Saina Nehwal was knocked out of the China Open Super 750 tournament after she lost her first round match to Cai Yan Yan of China 9-21, 12-21 on Wednesday.

While her husband, Parupalli Kashyap, advanced to the second round of men's singles, beating Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand 21-14, 21-13.

In other men's singles match, Sai Praneeth made a brilliant comeback from first game down to beat Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto 15-21, 21-12, 21-10. While Sameer Verma lost to Lee Cheuk Yiu 18-21, 18-21.

The mixed doubles pair of Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also made a first-round exit. The duo went down 14-21, 14-21 to Wang Chi-Lin and Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.

After winning the Indonesia Masters in January, Saina has been struggling for form and had made three successive first round exits before reaching the quarterfinal of the French Open last month.

On Tuesday, P.V. Sindhu also made a first round exit after suffering a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Taiwan. She had also made early exits from China, Korea and Denmark Opens and lost to world No. 42 Pai 13-21 21-18 19-21.

In men's singles, H.S. Prannoy, crashed out in the opening round, losing 17-21 18-21 to Denmark's Rasmus Gemke on Tuesday.

(with agency inputs)