Kuala Lumpur: Saina Nehwal lost to top seed Wang Yihan of China 15-21, 16-21 in the semifinals of Maybank Malaysia Open Badminton Championship here on Saturday.

Saina, who had reached the last -four stage of the championship by beating Tine Baun of Denmark, lost to Yihan in straight sets in a match that lasted for 41 minutes. It was the fifth time that the both the players were playing each other, with the Chinese winning on all occasions.

Saina had a 8-4 lead in the first game but World No 1 Yihan came back strong after that and tokk the next six points. Thereafter it was Yihan all the way.

In the second game as well, Saina was ahead 5-2 before the Chinese shuttler took control did not lose the lead from 10-10. Now Yihan faces Xin Wang in the final tomorrow.