Ace Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, had a disappointing start to their campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals as they suffered straight-game defeats on the opening day of the prestigious event here on Wednesday.
World No. 2 Saina seemed to struggle with her ankle injury as she went down 14-21, 6-21 against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in a women's singles match which lasted 35 minutes.
The World Championship silver medallist will play World No. 1 Carolina Marin in another Group A match on Thursday.
World No. 9 Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the finals of Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold last week, suffered a 13-21, 13-21 loss against Japan's Kento Momota in a men's singles Group B match at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
Saina, who came into the match with a 4-0 head-to-head record against Okuhara, with two of this wins coming this year at Asian Championship and China Open, could not play her best game as her ankle injury restricted her on-court movement.
Okuhara zoomed to a 5-1 lead early on but Saina soon engaged her rival on long rallies using her tosses and drops and also judged the shuttle well in this conditions to claw back at 8-8. The Indian grabbed the lead when Okuhara hit wide but Okuhara caught the Indian at the forecourt and then with a smash moved into the interval with a slender 11-10 lead.
In the men's singles match, Srikanth looked a pale shadow of himself, while Momota produced a controlled aggressive game and fortified his defence to dominate match completely.
In the second game, Srikanth continued to search for his 'A' game as Momota lead 3-0. The defence of the Indian was not up to his best as he struggled to reach for shuttles at the forecourt and lost few points.