Hong Kong: Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Hong Kong Open Super Series after losing to Denmark's lower-ranked Tine Baun 16-21, 15-21 in the women's singles quarterfinals on Friday.
Two-time All England champion Baun, seeded seventh, took just 29 minutes to beat fourth-seeded Saina.
There was nothing much to separate the two in net and smash winners but the Dane won more rallies, which made the difference.
The first game was a neck-to-neck affair and the scoreline was 10-10 midway. The game could have gone either way but Baun surged ahead to lead 17-11 with five consecutive points.
The Indian tried her best to narrow the gap and took three straight points to make the scoreline 15-17, but her opponent showed tenacity to score four more points and take the first game.
In the second game, Sania simply lost her way after 4-4 and the Dane was ahead throughout. Saina recovered some lost ground by narrowing the gap at 14-16, but just like in the first game, Baun did not give her any chance to come back into the match.
Saina won one more point but she could not stop her opponent from taking the game easily.
Saina, who was defending her title here, has been going through a form slump this year. The 21-year-old won three Super Series title - Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong - besides winning the Commonwealth Games and India Open Grand Prix gold in 2010, but has managed to clinch only one title - that too a Grand Prix - this year.
It was also the end of the road for Ajay Jayaram and Gurusaidutt in the men's singles. Jayaram gave a tough fight to top-seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei before losing 16-21, 13-21 in a 31-minute contest.
Gurusaidutt, who had stunned world number nine Pengyu Du of China in his previous round match, went down to second-seeded Long Chen 13-21, 21-23 in a 43-minute contest.
To the credit of the Indian, he gave a scare to his much superior Chinese opponent in the second game which was stretched to deuce.
The young Indian matched his Chinese opponent in rallies and net play, but was found wanting in smashes.
The first game was a no contest, with Chen Long leading from the start to the end. Once the scoreline was 14-5 in favour of the Chinese, Gurusaiduttt seemed lost at sea.
The Indian, however, fought back superbly in the second game. He was trailing 9-16 at one time but recovered to level the score at 20-20 and 21-21, only to fail to hold to his nerves in the end against his much experienced opponent.
Earlier, India's mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju had crashed out of the tournament in the second round, while men's doubles duo of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas met with the same fate.
The women's doubles pair of Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also could not get past the first round.
With that, India's campaign in the Hong Kong Super Series ended on Friday.
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