Saina, who finished second best here in 2015, looked in discomfort with her right thigh and decided to retire after lagging 8-21, 4-10 behind.
Saina Nehwal went down 15-21 19-21 to Taiwanese Tai Tzu-Ying in the 37-minute quarterfinal clash.
Fifth-seeded Sindhu, who was beaten by Sung Ji twice in last three meetings, lost 16-21, 22-20, 18-21, despite saving as many as eight match points in the second and third game.
It was Sindhu and Saina's mentor and current chief national coach P Gopichand, who was the last Indian to win the championship back in 2001.
In a nail-biting last eight match which swung too frequently, it was a miscued smash from the Indian that ended the gruelling contest 22-20 16-21 21-23.
With this victory, Sindhu registered her fifth win over the World No. 6 Japanese, who robbed her of a World Championship gold at Glasgow after a 110-minute marathon battle which went down in history as one of the greatest.
The world No. 3 Indian recovered from a mid-way slump to overcome the Thai shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol 21-13, 13-21 and 21-18 in a match which lasted an hour and seven minutes.
Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong to prevail 20-22 21-17 21-9 in a 56-minute contest.
Saina Nehwal wants time to train for the All England Championship to be held at Birmingham from March 14 to 18.
New Delhi: Riding on her stupendous performance at the prestigious All England Championship, India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today regained the world number two spot again in the latest rankings released by the Badminton World
Hyderabad: A dream All England title might have slipped through her fingers but Saina Nehwal today insisted on taking positives out of the prestigious tournament, saying her consistency and improvement in overall game will help
Birmingham: After her dreams of winning All England badminton championship ended in agony with a defeat in the final, a crestfallen Saina Nehwal on Sunday said it was her lack of focus and nervousness which
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday praised Saina Nehwal after the ace Indian female shuttler suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final of the All England badminton championships, saying the country is proud
Birmingham: Leading Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal got the better of China's former world champion Yihan Wang 21-19, 21-6 to march into the semifinals of the $500,000 All England Open Badminton Championships at the Barclaycard Arena
Birmingham: Double Olympic champion Lin Dan fought off a tough challenge to beat Japan's Kento Momota and booked a semi-final berth at the All England Championships here.Lin, bidding for his sixth All England title, will
Birmingham: Saina Nehwal and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa entered the second round, while male shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost in the opening round of the All England Open
Birmingham: India's Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar registered straight game wins to progress to the second round of the men's singles qualifying round of the prestigious All England Championship badminton tournament, here Tuesday.While Jayaram beat
Birmingham: Saina Nehwal began her All England Badminton Championship campaign with a comfortable win over Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour here Wednesday. But India's top male players, Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, lost their opening round matches.World
Top News
Latest News
