PV Sindhu has been knocked out of Korea Open following her first-round loss to USA's Beiwen Zhang in Incheon on Wednesday.
The current world champion lost to the world no.10 21-7, 22-24, 15-21 in a contest that lasted over an hour.
It was a tough loss for the reigning world champion as she had a match point in the second game. But the American hung in their and closed out the match comfortably eventually. With the win, Beiwen snapped a three-match losing streak against the Indian.
This was a second successive early exit for Sindhu. The 24-year-old had crashed out of the China Open World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament as she went down fighting to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong last week.
(With inputs from IANS)