PV Sindhu's title defence lay in tatters after suffering a shock straight-game loss to hitherto unknown Chinese Gao Fangjie in the quarterfinals of the China Super Series Premier here on Friday.
Sindhu seemed completely off-colour during her 38-minute duel with the 19-year-old Fangjie, who upstaged her fancied World No 2 rival 21-11, 21-10 in a lop-sided contest.
Sindhu's loss drew curtains on India's campaign at the China Open, following the ouster of Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy in the prequarterfinals on Thursday. The 22-year-old from Hyderabad, who has been playing continuously for the last three weeks, participating in the Denmark Open, French Open and the National Championship in Nagpur, found the going tough on Friday.
She seemed exhausted and struggled to anticipate her opponent's moves even as Fangjie kept varying the length of the shots and engaged in long rallies to dominate the proceedings.
Sindhu also committed too many unforced errors. Sindhu is scheduled to play at the Hong Kong Open next week. She had reached the finals in the last edition and has a lot of points to defend.