China's crown at the All England championships in Birmingham slipped at the weekend when they ended with just two of the five titles, their most modest showing since 2002.
The Indian ace went down tamely to Tine Rasmussen of Denmark in her opening match of badminton Super Series Masters finals. World No 10 Saina lost 18-21, 14-21 to the world No 2 Rasmussen in just 27 minutes.
Denmark's Tine Rasmussen reached the final of the women's singles at the All England Badminton Championships for the third year in succession after edging past gallant Indian seventh seed Saina Nehwal 21-19, 21-17.
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Super Series badminton championship when she defeated German Juliane Schenk in straight games in the quarter-finals in London.
The Indian, ranked 27th in the world, lost 15-21, 21-12, 16-21 to her world number 11 opponent at the Elizabeth Stadium on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal touched a new high on Thursday as she zoomed into the top-five of the world rankings at a career-best fifth spot following her stupendous show in the All England Badminton Championships earlier this month.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarter-finals with a straight games win, but Chetan Anand bit the dust in the singles event of the Malaysian Super Series tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal shrugged off her opening match disappointment to become the first Indian shuttler to reach the semi-finals of the World Super Series Masters Finals when she defeated Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia in the group league stage, in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.