Saina, Sai upset by Chinese upstarts at Macau Open

NAGPUR: It was third time unlucky for Saina Nehwal. After escaping to victory on the two previous days, the top seed was finally humbled by a lower-ranked Chinese in the quarter-finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Friday.
The day turned out to be a forgettable one for India with the ouster of B Sai Praneeth too. After raising hopes by knocking out fifth seed Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in straight games, Sai Praneeth failed to live up to the expectations.He too fell to an upcoming Chinese player.
Chinese teenager Yiman registered perhaps the biggest victory of her career by dismissing world No. 10 Saina. The 19-year-old Yiman, ranked lowly 226, capitalized on the slow movements of Saina to score a 21-12, 21-17 victory in 35 minutes. Barring a few occasions, Saina was struggling to cope up with the pace of Yiman. Yiman was in top from the beginning, taking an early 8-5 lead in the opening game. The 26-year-old Indian managed to draw level at 8-8 but Yiman captured five successive points to strengthen her position (14-8) before closing out the game with some down the line smashes.
After the change of ends, Saina raced to a 6-0 lead before Yiman pocketed five consecutive points to reduce the gap. Saina was in contention till 11-11 in the second game and looked set to repeat last two days' show. However, Yiman turned the match on its head by notching up three back-to-back points. Saina used her experience to draw level at 14-14 but the Chinese came up with a five-point burst to shatter the comeback hopes of former world No. 1. Sai Praneeth put up a dogged fight in the first game but was overpowered by 20-year-old Chinese Zhao Jun Peng 19-21, 9-21in 30 minutes.
The Indian, ranked No. 37 in the world, had his chances in the first game but could not capitalize on them. Boosted by the confidence, the No. 125-ranked Zhao produced powerful smashes which were too hot to handle for Sai.