NEW DELHI: Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal knocked out of the Orleans Masters tournament after suffering a straight-game first round loss to Turkey's Neslihan Yigit in Orleans, France on Wednesday.
However, rising Indian stars Mithun Manjunath, Priyanshu Rajawat, Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth advanced to the second round after registering wins in their respective first round matches.
Returning to the court after missing a few tournaments, London Olympic bronze medallist shuttler meekly surrendered Turkish qualifier Yigit 16-21, 14-21 in just 39 minutes.
Saina, who missed the All England Championships and has dropped to 32 in the BWF Rankings, looked sluggish and was slow off the blocks as she trailed Yigit 4-11.
Saina, who had her right knee heavily strapped, fought back to narrow down the deficit to 13-15 but the gap was eventually too much as the Turkish shuttler took the first game.
A rusty Saina was not up to the mark in the second game, trailing 6-11 at the mid-game interval and eventually losing the tie in straight games.
Sameer Verma, on the other hand, squandered a game lead to lose 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.
In other first-round men's singles matches, India's Manjunath defeated higher-ranked Victor Svendsen of Denmark 24-22, 25-23 while Rajawat beat compatriot Kiran George 21-18, 21-13.
Manjunath will play Taipei's Yu Jen, who was lucky to progress after fifth seed Rasmus Gemke retired in the second game after pocketing the first.
Rajawat, on the other hand, will be up against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Nishimoto prevailed over Taipei's Chia Hao Lee 21-18, 21-11.
Tanya eked out a 21-17 21-18 win over Leonice Huet of France in the women's singles while Aakarshi fought from a game down to beat Japan's Natsuki Nidaira 8-21 21-13 8-21.
Tasnim Mir went down fighting to Germany's Yvonne Li 22-20 13-21 5-21.
(With PTI inputs)
