Saina Nehwal suffered her first defeat in four meetings to USA’s Beiwen Zhang at the Indian Open on Friday.
Down 0-6 in the first two minutes, Saina was never allowed to settle down, eventually bowing out with a 21-10, 21-13 loss. She struggled through the 12-minute opening game, hardly finding her feet and the ‘feel’ for the strokes. In the second game, Zhang showed that Saina had very little left in the tank. A panting Saina, a finalist last Sunday in the Indonesian Masters, began erring in judgements and sent the shuttles long on the ‘big’ points, including the match-point.
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Zhang, who represented Singapore before falling out with her Chinese coach and moving to the U.S. three years ago, will now take on another surprise semifinalist, Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi, the conqueror of Marin 21-12, 21-19.
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