Dubai: PV Sindhu made a winning start to her maiden campaign at the prestigious BWF World Super Series Final badminton tournament, defeating higher-ranked Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in an entertaining women’s singles Group B match here Wednesday. Sindhu won 12-21, 21-8, 21-15 against World No. 8 Yamaguchi in an exciting clash which lasted little over an hour.
In the opening game, Sindhu conceded a 3-6 lead early on as she faltered with her strokes even as Yamaguchi grabbed points with her deception and riding on her rival’s mistakes to go 11-5 up at the break.
World No. 10 Sindhu looked slightly impatient and it affected her performance as Yamaguchi took a 14-7 lead. Sindhu then reeled off four points in a row with some telling smashes to narrow the deficit to 14-10, but that was as far as she got.
She again committed a couple of unforced errors and then was left stranded by a cross court return from the Japanese, who built her lead to 17-12.
Sindhu was visibly frustrated as she faltered at the net and then struggled with a low return as Yamaguchi raced to 20-12. The Japanese then sealed the opening game after winning a long rally when Sindhu netted with a low return.
The sting was back in Sindhu’s strokes in the second game as she took an early 4-0 lead. Yamaguchi narrowed it down to 4-6 and eventually drew parity at 7-7.
However, Sindhu continued to nose ahead and entered the interval at 11-7 with a round-the-head smash which the Japanese could not put retrieve.
With momentum on her side Sindhu continued to attack her opponent on the left court as the Japanese faltered with her backhand shots. Sindhu then allowed her opponent only one more point to wrap up the game at eight and restore parity in the match.
The decider began with a fast-paced rally which Yamaguchi should have won but she ended up hitting it wide. Sindhu tried to neutralise her rivals deception by pushing her to the mid-court and came up with a power-packed return to lead 6-3.
Sindhu won another good rally with a cross-court net flick and then with Yamaguchi committing another judgmental error at the baseline, the Indian went into the break with a 11-7 advantage.
The Indian continued her march after the interval and reached 17-12 with a return which left Yamaguchi sprawling on the floor. In the end, a sharp smash took Sindhu to 20-14 and she sealed the match when the Japanese hit long again.
Press Trust of India