Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s lackluster run of form continued as the Olympic bronze-medallist crashed out of China Open in the first round in on Wednesday.

The World No 9 Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 to local favourite Cai Yan Yan in the women’s singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes to make an early exit from the $700,000 tournament in Fuzou.

In men’s singles, Parupalli Kashyap registered a comfortable straight-game victory over Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin while Sai Praneeth rallied to beat Tommy Sugiarto.

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The Indian, who is Nehwal’s husband and personal coach as well, got the better of his Thai opponent 21-14 21-3 in 43 minutes. He will face seventh seed Victor Axelson of Denmark in the second round.

Sai Praneeth needed 52 minutes as he came from a game down to beat the Indonesian 15-21, 21-12, 21-10. He will next take on fourth seed Anders Antonsen.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy made a first-round exit. The duo went down 14-21 14-21 to Wang Chi-Lin and Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.

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The 29-year-old Nehwal has been going through a tough phase with regards to her fitness since claiming the Indonesia Masters in January. She made three consecutive first-round exits before reaching the quarterfinal of the French Open last month.

On Tuesday, PV Sindhu suffered a shock defeat as well, going down 13-21, 21-18, 19-21 to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round

With PTI Inputs