PV Sindhu’s quest for her maiden Hong Kong Open Superseries badminton title was dashed as she suffered an 18-21, 18-21 loss to Chinese Taipei’s top seed Tai Tzu Ying. ( HIGHLIGHTS)
Sindhu, who had a brilliant run in the tournament and entered the final defeating former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the semi-final, fell behind in the early part of the game as World No.1 Tai raced away to a 7-2 lead in the first game, courtesy some unforced errors from the Indian.
World No.3 Sindhu managed to close the gap with a couple of aggressive smashes but the defending champion maintained her composure to take a three-point lead. At 15-12, Tai looked to be on course but a couple of unforced errors from the Chinese Taipei player resulted in Sindhu levelling the game at 18-18.
Tai maintained her composure and with a combination of aggressive play at the net as well as pinpoint smashes, the World No.1 extended her advantage. A successful referral at the end gave Tai the first game 21-18 at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
Second seeded Sindhu started well in the second game but Tai did not allow her to extend her advantage. Both players matched each other’s intensity well and the Indian shuttler took a 10-8 lead.
At 11-all, it was anyone’s game but Tai increased the tempo and capitalised on some errors from Sindhu to take an 18-12 lead.
Although Sindhu fought back and closed the gap, it was a bit too late as Tai closed the game 21-18 and the match to win the USD 400,000 tournament, her fifth Superseries crown of 2017. She had also had wins at All England, Malaysia, Singapore and France.
This was Tai’s eighth win against Sindhu in 11 meetings and fourth on the trot.
Sindhu was bidding to become the third Indian shuttler to win the Hong Kong Open title after Prakash Padukone in 1982 and Saina Nehwal in 2010.
