Kuala Lumpur June 28 (IANS) India s Saina Nehwal fell to Japanese second seed Akane Yamaguchi in straight games in the second round of the Malaysia Open badminton championships here on Thursday.
Saina 28 lost 15-21 13-21 in 36 minutes to 21-year-old Yamaguchi who now moves into the quarter-finals.
Yamaguchi has now taken a 6-1 lead in head-to-head records against the two-time World Championships medallist Saina who on Thursday suffered the sixth straight loss against the Japanese.
In the first game Yamaguchi had taken a 9-2 lead but Saina closed down the deficit to one as the Indian reached the 10-point mark. However Yamaguchi outplayed the Indian to take a 21-15 win.
She continued to dominate Saina in the second game taking an 11-3 lead in the mid-game interval. Though Saina improved her game Yamaguchi ran away with a 21-13 easy triumph.

--IANS pur/mr