Super-aggressive Sindhu races into Singapore Open final

After struggling to beat her opponents in the previous two rounds, PV Sindhu, the third seed, brought out her most destructive avatar to crush Japanese rival Saena Kawakami’s challenge to enter the final of the $3.7 million Singapore Open on Saturday.

The 21-15, 21-7 victory put the 2019 world champion into her third final of the year, having won the Syed Modi India International and Swiss Open in January and March respectively.

Sindhu took just 32 minutes to claim the opening game at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. She dominated from the start by attacking at the net, blunting Kawakami’s serves by charging and finishing them with the first return.

Seeing her opponent’s aggressive side, world No 38 Kawakami—she also lost her previous two meetings against Sindhu—was overawed, handing easy points to let the Indian go 7-2 up. But the Japanese slowly came into her own after a couple of errors from the Hyderabad player to level at 11-all. It was a matter of time before the double Olympic medallist closed the game out.

Kawakami levelled scores twice in the first game, but did not even come close in the second. She was no match for India’s world No 7, an aggressive Sindhu smashing her way to 11-4 at the interval. Kawakami had no answer to the power Sindhu was generating with her smashes, fired like a bullet to the opposite end of the court.

Sindhu disguised her shots well too, especially at the net. From long rallies to TV reviews, everything went Sindhu’s way as Kawakami started making more errors in frustration. Sindhu won eight points on the trot to go from 11-5 to 19-5 before closing out the contest in the next two minutes. Sindhu won 42 of the 64 points, converting both the game points with ease and never ceding the lead in the match.

“Sindhu won it very easy. The competition has been okay after some girls pulled out. Whatever it is, this will give Sindhu confidence for the World Championships," said selector and former chief national coach U Vimal Kumar. "Of course, she will be playing the Commonwealth Games but the World Championships are more important. In Commonwealth Games, there's not much opposition compared to men. She's been getting to the quarters and semis but losing out. Winning a tournament will give a lot of confidence."

The CWG will be held in Birmingham from July 28. The World Championships will be played in Tokyo (Aug 21-28).

Sindhu will face her toughest challenge yet at Singapore on Sunday. She faces China’s Wang Zhi Yi, who ousted Japan’s Aya Ohori 21-14, 21-14 in 38 minutes. Unlike Sindhu, who has played two deciders in four matches, the world No 11 is yet to lose a game. The 22-year-old Chinese shuttler has been in brilliant form. She won gold at the Asian Championships in Manila in May and reached the final of the Indonesia Open in Jakarta last month, losing to Tai Tzu Ying.

Sindhu, who turned 27 last week, will find confidence from her winning their only previous meeting, at the All England Open first round in March.

Sindhu is looking to become only the third Indian, after Saina Nehwal (2010) and B Sai Praneeth (2017), to win the Singapore Open.

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