Two-time defending champion Saina Nehwal was ousted by nemesis Shixian Wang of China in the women’s singles semifinal of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
The fourth-seeded Shixian halted Saina’s journey to a consecutive third final by winning the match 21-11, 10-21, 21-9 in 50 minutes on Saturday.
Saina was completely off the track in the first game allowing the World No.7 to take a huge 8-0 lead at the start from where she could never recuperate.
Known for her quick feet on the court, Saina was boggled by Chinese opponent, who had last beaten the top seed back in the 2010 World Championships.
Scripts changed hands in the second game as from 13-10 up, the defending champion notched eight straight points to take the game and level the match.
But Saina again let herself down in the third by making wrong line judgements and unforced errors.
Shixian led the game from the start and kept extending the lead, needing just one match-point to pull it off.
Surprisingly, there were no smash winners by either players considering that both heavily rely on smashes as most points were won at the net.
Shixian’s deft touches at the net proved to be the difference between the two.
