Kuala Lumpur, May 8: Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal faltered after a good start as she lost to world number three Xin Wang of China in the finals to finish runner-up in the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton tournament here today.
The world number four and top seed Indian, playing with a taped-up ankle, lost 21-13 8-21 14-21 in a 48-minute contest against her second-seeded rival.
Saina ran away with the opening game in just 15 minutes with eight smash winners and better net-play but the momentum swung immediately after that as Asian Games gold-medallist Wang roared back into the match.
The Chinese, who finished runner-up here two years ago, clinched seven points in a row in the second game to equalise.
She was dominant in the deciding third game as well, leading 11-7, before Saina clawed her way back to make it 14-14. PTI
