Saina Nehwal

Indian challenge at the Singapore Open came to a crushing halt after Saina Nehwal [Images] went down fighting in the semi-finals on Saturday.

National Champion Saina put up a spirited challenge against fifth seed Mi Zhou of China before going down 17-21 21-19 21-11 in a match that lasted 55 minutes.

Saina was off to a brilliant start pocketing the first game but Zhou got the better of the Indian shuttler in the next two games to advance to the finals of the super series tournament.

Zhou will face second seed Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, who thumped fourth seed Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia in straight games in the other semi-final.