India Open champion PV Sindhu lost 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 to world No. 13 Chen Yufei in the first round of the Malaysia Open on Wednesday. This was only Sindhu's second loss in 14 matches this year. Saina Nehwal also exited the tournament after losing 21-19, 13-21, 15-21 to world No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi in the first round.
Chen put in an impressive performance against the more experienced Sindhu. Fresh off a title-winning run at the India Open last week, Sindhu opened up an 18-12 lead in the first game but Chen fought back to narrow the deficit. The Chinese player won the second game despite trailing 2-6 in the initial exchanges. Chen led through most of the third game and closed out the hard-fought match in one hour and eight minutes.
Saina, who lost in the quarterfinals of the India Open last week, has not progressed beyond the last eight at a Superseries event since her title-winning run at the Australian Open in 2016. Her match against Yamaguchi lasted 56 minutes.
Earlier, Ajay Jayaram advanced to the second round after a comfortable 21-11, 21-8 win over China's Qiao Bin. The match lasted 31 minutes. Jayaram raced away to a 4-0 lead in the first minute of the match and led throughout the first game. He was untroubled in the second game as well. Jayaram will face fourth-seed Viktor Axelsen in the second round. He had lost to Axelsen in straight games at the India Open last week.
Meanwhile, B Sai Praneeth lost to China's Lin Dan 21-18, 19-21, 18-21 in 71 minutes.
The Indian men's doubles challenge came to an end as Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 21-18, 18-21, 17-21 to Chinese Taipei's Kuan Hao Liao and Chia Pin Lu in the first round in 47 minutes.
Mixed doubles pair Pranaav Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy also suffered a defeat on the day, losing to 19-21, 21-19, 21-23 to Kim Astrup and Line Kjaersfeldt in 55 minutes.