Saina Nehwal, Jwala-Diju lose

It is curtains for India at the WBC as Saina Nehwal and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out on Friday.

Saina squandered a healthy 9-1 lead in the second game to lose the singles quarterfinal 16-21 19-21 to Chinese second seed Lin Wang a 39-minute contest.

Sania had defeated Lin in June to lift the Indonesian Super Series title.

"She (Lin) was better prepared today. She was defending well. I made a few silly mistakes but I am happy with my performance. She played better at net and involved in more tabs and pushes which shows she was prepared," Saina said.

"I reached the pre-quarters in 2007 and this time I have reached quarters and I have beaten the top 10 players so I'm satisfied," she added.

Her coach Pullela Gopichand also lauded Saina's effort considering that she came to the event after a bout with chicken pox.

"Saina played well, may be could have played better but I feel she played with rhythm. Recovering from a chicken pox and playing so well, I couldn't have asked for anything better," Gopichand said.

Jwala-Diju lose

Earlier, in the mixed doubles event, Jwala-Diju proved no match to defending champions and second seed Indonesian combo of Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir and lost their last-eight stage match 6-21 14-21 in just 27 minutes.

Jwala and Diju were up 9-6 in the first game before squandering the lead. That apparently affected their morale as the Indian duo lost momentum after 5-5 scoreline in the second game.

They were left to do a catch-up job but to no avail as the Indonesian played a tactical game at the World Badminton Championship.

"We played the way they wanted us to play, which was not a clever thing in any way. We were playing close to their body and they were more than comfortable," Diju said after the match.

"They dominated us completely. They defended our smashes well and I feel I tried to hurry things up. I should have slowed down and played long rallies. I lost my patience," Jwala said.

Meanwhile, eighth seed Hongyan Pi of France bounced back from a game down to tame 11th seed German Juliane Schenk 15-21 21-15 21-19 in a women's singles match that lasted for more than an hour, while seventh seed Lan Lu of China stunned third seed Tine Rasmussen of Denmark 21-15 21-13.

Blushing after reaching her first career semifinal in a world championship, Hongyan said she could not explain in words how happy she was.

"I can't explain how happy I am today. I guess this place is lucky for me," said Hongyan, who won the Indian Open in March.

"I was confident but she (Juliane Schenk) played really well and kept a high tempo. I had to be more tactical as she was changing her game too often. She started off well but I kept telling myself that I have to belief in myself. It was a high pressure game," she said.

In the men's singles, Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia survived a scare before beating Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-19 21-19 in a 42-minute match, while second seed Chinese Jin Chen defeated 13th seed Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-10 21-13.