Paris: Saina Nehwal's campaign at the 2019 French Open came to an end on Friday. She was beaten by South Korean teenager An Se Young in a hard-fought two-game match that lasted 49 minutes.
Young thus continues her impressive run having beaten reigning world champion P.V. Sindhu in the first round of the Denmark Open last month. She had been knocked out of that tournament only after pushing Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the quarter-finals that went on for an hour and 20 minutes.
Saina was chasing for much of the match but she had game point at 20-19 in the first game. Young however took three consecutive points to win the first game 22-20.
The two went toe-to-toe in the second game with the Korean holding a slender 11-10 lead. After that, however, Young raced to an 18-13 lead and Saina responded by taking four consecutive points to close the gap to a point. It took two match points but in the end, the 17-year-old Korean prevailed over the former world no.1.
Saina will next feature in the $75,000 Saarlorlux Open in Germany which starts on November 29.
