P.V. Sindhu had a below-par outing as Japan's Akene Yamaguchi beat the World Championship silver medallist 21-14 21-9 in a thoroughly one-sided semi-final.
It took fifth seed Yamaguchi only 37 minutes to blow away the Indian challenge in the last four clash.
While the first game lasted 19 minutes, the second game's duration was a minute less.
There was a sudden drop of intensity in Sindhu's performance in the first game at 14-14, when Yamaguchi reeled off seven straight points to wrap it up at 21-14. Yamaguchi repeatedly attacked Sindhu's left side as she found it difficult to control.
The Olympic silver medallist was sluggish in her movement as Yamaguchi, with her powerful smashes, did not allow Sindhu to approach the net.
The second game was a one-way traffic as Yamaguchi straightaway went 5-0 up and, at the mini-break, was leading 11-2.
She did win a few points with some deft drop shots, but it was too late in the day, as Yamaguchi won the second game at 21-9 to make it to the summit round.
"Playing semifinals is great but I am a bit upset though as I couldn't make it to the finals. I have to learn from my mistakes and comeback," Sindhu said.
Talking about the match, Sindhu said: "In the first game it was 14 all and I gave away many points. I gave a huge lead in the second also. She had a 10-12 points lead and to cover that was tough to comeback. There were too many unforced errors from my side and overall I couldn't play my game.
"Her defence is very good. She was taking all my smashes today, I think I could have mixed it up. I played attacking and I could have changed a bit a little more in the first game but overall she played very well. In the second game she didn't even make any mistake. I could have played more rallies."
