Eighth seed Saina Nehwal was a surprise early casualty, losing to Jiang Yanjiao of China 21-15, 21-23, 21-14 at the Japan Open earlier today
Eighth seed Saina Nehwal was a surprise early casualty, losing to Jiang Yanjiao of China 21-15, 21-23, 21-14 at the Japan Open earlier today.
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Having just recovered from chicken pox, Nehwal was eagerly looking forward to the Japan Open wher a good performance would have ensured her qualification to the year-ending World Masters.
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The first day of the event also saw another big shock when women's World No 1 went down.
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Hong Kong's Zhou Mi, the Masters Final champion and top seed, who played for China previously, suffered a shock 21-17, 18-21, 21-18 defeat to the Indonesian, ranked 20th in the world.
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Zhou put the loss down to lack of fitness -- and the air conditioning at the indoor Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
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"It was difficult in the first game to get used to the wind and its direction. I managed to take the second game but physically I'm tired in the third game," said Zhou.
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"I'm not physically in good form recently. I've been playing recently to find out in what aspect I must improve."
It was Firdasari's first win over Zhou in three meetings.
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"I'm very, very happy. I've never expected to beat her so I just tried to keep playing," said the 2005 SEA Games gold medallist.
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"When I led the first game, I thought of winning the match, and I lost the second game. But I kept my motivation high in the third game. I lost to her twice before, so I really wanted to beat her this time."
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