With a world ranking of 4 and the Swiss Open title under her belt, India`s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was the main hope for bagging the French Open Super Series badminton in Paris title. But the hopes were shattered on Thursday at Paris when Saina battled her heart out before going down to Xuerui Li of China in straight-games to crash out in the second round. She lost 18-21, 29-30 in a match lasting 48 minutes.

After a second round exit from Denmark Open last week, Saina was hoping for a redemption this week, but even her best effort couldn`t save the Indian as Li was better prepared and matched her shots with equal finesse.

On the whole it was a total a disastrous day for India at Paris as Ajay Jayaram and Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa too suffered defeats to draw curtains on the country`s campaign at the event. Jayaram lost 19-21, 14-21 to sixth-seed Chinese Jin Chen in 46 minutes. In the women's doubles, Jwala and Ashwini lost to sixth-seeded South Koreans Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim 13-21, 12-21 in a match that lasted for 27 minutes.