Japan Open Super Series: Carolina Marin beats Saina Nehwal to enter quater-final

Tokyo: India's challenge in the women's singles category came to an end after Saina Nehwal lost to reining Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the second round of the Japan Open Super Series. Marin beat Saina 21-16, 21-13 to enter the quarter-final of the tournament.

After PV Sindhu's shock exit in the second round, all eyes were on Saina to move further in the tournament.In the first game both the players matched each other point-by-point as Nehwal led the game 11-9 at the interval, the Indian extended her lead by four points after the interval and looked poised to take the first game, but Marin fought her way back to make a comeback and tie the game at 14 each.

Both the players were not ready to leave any inch of space as the game continued to swung.Marin took her game to another gear and started to take away points freely and in the end, she managed to win the first game 21-16.

The second game also proved to be a neck-to-neck contest as both the players were tied at 6 points each midway through the game. Once again the second game turned out to be a mirror image of the first one as Marin once again clawed her way back and open up a three-point lead over Saina to lead 11-7 at the interval.

The former World No 1 extend five-point lead over her fiercest rival. Saina brought back her fighting spirit in the game as she tried to trim down the lead, but it was too little too late for the Indian as Marin won the second game and the match 21-13.