Kuala Lumpur, April 04: World No.1 shuttler Saina Nehwal lost her women’s singles semi-final to reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Superseries Premier here on Saturday.

The Chinese beat the third seeded Saina in a marathon match that lasted an hour and eight minutes. The highest seed eventually won 13-21, 21-17, 22-20 at the Putra stadium.

The Indian challenge in the tournament ended with Saina’a loss.