India's dream in women's singles shattered as Saina crashes out of New Zealand Open

Auckland: India's challenge in women's singles ended as Saina Nehwal on Wednesday lost to world No 212 Wang Zhiyi of China in straight games in the first round of New Zealand Open.

Saina, a World Championship silver medallist lost 16-21, 23-21, 4-21 to 19-year-old Zhiyi in an hour and seven minutes to bow out of the competition early on.

She trailed 0-4 in the first game and was unable to keep up with her opponent losing 16-21.

Saina won the second game 23-21, but in the decider there was no fightback from the Indian and Wang won eight consecutive points to win it easily.

In men's singles, Lakshya Sen's campaign also ended despite a hard-fought loss against Taiwan's Wang Tzu Wei. Lakshya lost 21-15 18-21 10-21 in an hour and eight minutes.

However, the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy registered a win over New Zealand's Joshua Feng and Jack Jiang 21-17 21-10.

Earlier in the day, the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost against Chinese duo of Liu Xuanxuan and Xia Yuting  14-21 23-21 14-21 in an hour.