Kuala Lumpur: India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal not only lost her semi-final encounter against Li Xuerui at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier tournament, but also her World No 1 ranking here on Saturday.

Though the Hyderabadi shuttler won her first game 21-13, she lost the next two 17-21 20-22 to world No. 3 Li in a gruelling semifinal that lasted one hour and eight minutes at Putra Stadium.

Saina was crowned as world No. 1 for her exploits at the India Open triumph last week. A semifinal finish here will give her 7700 points but Li reaching the finals means the Chinese will regain her No. 1 ranking.