The Indian challenge in the Korea Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament ended on Friday after London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal suffered a stunning quarter-final defeat to China's Li Han, in Seoul.

The third-seeded Indian ace was beaten 14-21, 21-15, 12-21 in 59 minutes.

It was quite an upset for Saina, who had beaten Han in their previous two meetings.

The world No 26 Chinese seemed up for the challenge from the word go and matched Saina's trademark smashes besides cornering her with some deft net-play to take the opening game easily.

Saina came back strongly in the second to draw level but Han showed a lot of tenacity as she outplayed the world No 3 Indian in the deciding third game.

On Thursday, Parupalli Kashyap and P V Sindhu exited in the second round.