Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal made a shock exit from the Singapore Super Series after losing her women’s singles quarter-final to Indonesia’s Lindaweni Fanetri, here on Friday.
The world number two Indian squandered a one-game lead to go down 21-17, 13-21, 13-21 in a little less than an hour against unseeded Fanetri at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
It was a neck-and-neck battle till the first 10 points of the opening game before Saina opened up a three point lead (14-11).
The Indian increased her lead to 17-13 before Fanetri clawed her way back to reduce the margin to just a point at 18-17. But Saina regained her composure and pocketed three straight points to close the game in her favour.
The Indonesian, however, began the second game on a bright note and opened up a 7-4 lead over Saina.
Riding on her smashes and delicate net play, Fanetri increased her lead to 19-10 before sealing the game to level the scores.
The win in the second game gave immense confidence to Fanetri of registering an upset victory over her higher-ranked opponent as she carried on her good form to open up a 12-3 lead over Saina with clear winners.
The Indonesian did not give any chance to Saina to make a comeback as she raced to 19-9 before giving the knockout punch to the second seeded Indian.
All other Indians in competition have already bowed out of the competition, losing their respective second round matches.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/swati-chopra-275
