Saina loses in Indonesia Masters final

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was outplayed by Chinese Taipei's top seeded Tai Tzu Ying in the final of the $350,000 Indonesia Masters World Tour Super 500 here on Sunday.

World No.1 Tai took only 27 minutes to win 21-9, 21-13 as she unleashed an array of strokes to floor the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist.

Saina, thus registered her seventh straight defeat against the world no.1 -- who leads the head-to-head battle 9-5 against the Indian.

In the first game, Ying maintained the lead from the onset. She clinched five consecutive points in comparison to Saina's 2 which helped her close the game with ease.

The World No.12 looked nowhere in the match, even in the second game where she lost in similar fashion against Ying -- who took an early 4-0 lead and from there, she did not look back to clinch the title with ease.

"Played final after one year of gap at the #IndonesiaMastersSuper500 .. Would like to thank (Pullela) Gopi (chand) Sir and the team for the support .. Need to work even harder," Saina wrote on Twitter.

"Happy to b on the podium but have to learn from this match and b ready for the next tournament...Thank u all for the wishes and support."

The men's singles title went to 21-year-old Indonesian rising star Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who crushed Japan's Kazumasa Sakai 21-13, 21-12 in 33 minutes.

In the men's doubles final, world No.1 pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo defeated Chinese second seeds Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen11 21, 21-10, 21-16.

Japanese women's doubles second seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi lived up to their reputation as they got the better of Indonesian eight seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 21-17, 21-12.

The mixed doubles title went to Chinese sixth seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, who took only 33 minutes to upset Indonesian top seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir with a 21-14, 21-11 triumph.

--IANS

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