Kuala Lumpur: London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was stunned by lower ranked Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei as the World No. 12 defeated the World No. 2 22-20, 21-14 in the semi-finals of Malaysia Open Super Series here on Saturday.
 
The Indian shuttler failed to break the solid defence of Tai, who played like a girl possessed to notch up the win in a 35-minute match. The sixth seed Chinese Taipei was better at the nets and also used her smashes to good effect against Saina. Tai had defeated Indian during the Denmark Open in 2011.

In the first game, Saina was lagging 1-3 initially but she soon took charge of the game with a 5-4 lead. However the Indian succumbed to a series of unforced errors, as Tai went into the breather at 11-6. Thereafter, Saina never recovered and Tai widen the gap and eventually earned a five-point lead at 20-15. But Tai made too many unforced errors after that, which allowed Saina to save five game points but the Indian faltered at the nets twice to give Tai a 1-0 lead.

In the second game, Tai once again opened up an 8-3 lead and led by 11-6 at the breather. Saina did try to narrow the gap but in vain as Tai moved well on the court and returned everything that was thrown at her to frustrate the Indian. Tai eventually won the set and the match.