Defending champion Saina Nehwal lost to the World No 7, Olympic champion Li Xuerui in straight games in the Women’s singles final of the China Open Superseries on 15th November.
Sixth seed and World No 7, Xuerui, who won the China Open in 2012 and 2013 beat World No 2 and the defending champion Saina Nehwal 21-12, 21-15, in just 40 minutes.
Xuerui, a two-time Worlds Silver Medalist, took home $52,500 cash prize along with the title while Saina pocketed the reward of $26,600.
With this victory at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center, Xuerui extended her intimidating record to 10-2 against Saina. Interestingly, the Chinese star won the last six encounters against the Indian. Saina’s last victory against Xuerui came way back in 2012.
Saina reached five superseries finals this year and won two. She won the India Grand Prix Gold and India Open Superseries titles.
She lost the finals of the All-England series and World Championships to World No 1 Carolina Marin of Spain before losing China Open to the World No 7 Xuerui.
