Saina, the first Indian woman shuttler to be world number one after her India Open Grand Prix Gold triumph earlier this month, had dropped to the second place following her semifinal finish in the Malaysia Open Super Series.
She skipped last week’s Singapore Open Super Series but gained in the rankings after Xuerui also pulled out from the tournament, leading to loss of two positions in the women’s singles chart.
Elsewhere, P V Sindhu dropped out of the top 10 and was placed 12th this week after slipping three spots.
In the men’s rankings, K Srikanth retained the fourth spot, while P Kashyap rose a rung to 14th owing to his semifinal finish in the Singapore Open.
H S Prannoy, who ended a quarter-finalist in Singapore, slid one spot to be 15th in the rankings.
