Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Saina crash out, outplayed in quarter-finals

New Delhi: Olympic medal-winning Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Malaysia Masters after being outplayed by familiar foes in the quarterfinals ending the country’s campaign at Kuala Lumpur today.

Reigning world champion Sindhu, who took the court first was knocked out of the Super 500 badminton tournament by top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

Tzu Ying, ranked second in the world, defeated Rio Olympics silver-medallist Sindhu 21-16, 21-16 in the quarterfinal, extending her head-to-head record to 12-5. This was Sindhu’s second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. She had lost to her in the French Open quarterfinals in October last year.

Later in the day, London Olympics bronze-medallist, Saina was outplayed by Olympic champion Spaniard Carolina Marin. Saina and Marin were 6-6 in head-to-head before Friday’s match. Saina was no match for Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose off the Indian’s challenge 8-21, 7-21.