Saina Nehwal lost to Korea’s An Se Young in the women’s single quarterfinals of the French Open in straight games on Friday. The 29-year old, who claimed the Indonesia Masters in January this year, lost 20-22, 21-23 to world No.1 Young after a 49-minute contest. Saina, who had reached the final of the French Open in 2012, will next play at the Saarlorlux Open starting 29th of October. Saina Nehwal had headed to Paris on the back of 3 successive 1st-round exits.
Injury concerns coupled with dip in form saw Saina struggle to reach the business end of tournaments on the tour since her title-winning run at Indonesia Masters in January. However, there were signs of improvement when Saina Nehwal started the ongoing Super 750 tournament in France with 2 relative comfortable wins. The 7th seed had beaten Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong and Liane Kjaersfeldt of Denmark in straight games before setting up a quarter-final clash with the highly-rated An Se Young.