Star Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu suffered setbacks with both being knocked out in the opening round of the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier here on Wednesday.
Sixth seed and 2016 Olympic silver medallist Sindhu was toppled by world No.13 Chen Yufei of China 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 in an hour and eight minutes.
Sindhu’s loss came as a shock as she beat Spain’s Carolina Marin on Sunday to lift the India Open title.
However, on Wednesday, she struggled against 19-year-old Yufei.
Sindhu bagged the first game 18-21 and was looking good. However, Yufei staged a comeback to win the second game 21-19. Sindhu failed to counter Yufei in the third game and was outclassed 21-17.
Saina, the former World No. 1, fell to in-form Japanese world No.4 Akane Yamaguchi, who won 19-21, 21-13, 21-15 in 56 minutes.
It was a winning start for Nehwal as she bagged the closely contested first game 19-21. However, she lost the momentum in the second game and was defeated 21-13.
She went on to lose the third game 21-15 as well.
In the men's category, World No.19 Ajay Jayaram moved into the singles second round after brushing aside Chinese Qiao Bin 21-11, 21-8 in 31 minutes.
The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy also crashed out of the competition. The Indian combine lost to Chinese Taipei's Liao Kuan Hao and Lu Chia Pin 21-18, 18-21, 17-21.
Later in the day, B. Sai Praneeth and the mixed doubles pair of Sumeeth and N. Sikki Reddy will be in action.
