Sindhu crashed out of the China Open World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament as she went down fighting to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.
Fifth seeded Sindhu lost 12-21, 21-13, 21-19 in a thrilling second-round contest that lasted for almost an hour.
The 26-year old Olympic silver medallist will face USA's Beiwen Zhang in the opener.
Sindhu had got the better of Zhang en route her World Championships gold in Basel.
Besides Sindhu, Saina Nehwal will aim to get her act together after bowing out of the China Open as she suffered a crushing defeat to Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the opening round.
China Open has been one tournament where Saina has had a decent outing in the past. The 29-year-old triumphed in 2014 and went on to reach the final the very next year, where she fell to 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui.
B. Sai Praneeth, who had ended India's 36-year-old wait for a medal at the World Championships, will face Anders Antonsen of Denmark and look to continue his rich vein of form.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will take on a qualifier in his opening round.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in the men's doubles opening round.
Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy will take on a qualifying pair.
( With inputs from IANS )