Saina goes down to Xerui in Indonesian Open

Jakarta, June 20 (IANS) India's top ranked shuttler Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Indonesian Open badminton tournament after she lost her women's single quarter-finals tie to top seeded Li Xuerui of China at the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex here Friday.

Saina, who was seeded eighth, put on a tough fight but went down 20-22, 15-21 to Xuerui. The Indian now has a 2-7 win-loss record against her Chinese opponent.

The first game was an extremely close battle as they were tied at 5-5 early on but the Chinese showed her class and quickly opened up a 10-6 lead. But Saina was showing no signs of giving up and won five consecutive points to take lead at 11-10. From then it was a thrilling battle that saw Xuerui edge past narrowly.

Xuerui was in complete control of the proceedings in the second game as she quickly took a lead of 10-4. For Saina it was a catching-up job and finally she lost the game 15-21.

Xuerui will next face unseeded Thai girl Nichaon Jindapon, who won 17-21, 21-14, 22-20 against sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae of South Korea.