Internet Desk: Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu failed to live up to the expectation as she suffered a second successive loss to world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the final of the Hong Kong Super Series at Kowloon today. Playing in her fifth straight tournament, Sindhu went down fighting 18-21, 18-21 to the defending champion. The Hyderabadi shuttler now has lost her second final this season. She had lost to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara at the World Championship final, while clinched two titles at India and Korea this year.
Tai dominated the proceedings from the start, wrapping up the first game in just 21 minutes. The shuttler from Chainese Taipei took a 7-2 lead before Sindhu reduced the deficit to 6-7.
A deceptive net return gave Tai a point. The Taiwanese then produced a smash on the deep backhand corner of Sindhu and moved to 10-7. Sindhu unleashed a body smash to perfection before Tai’s flat straight return bamboozled the Indian.
After the breather, Tai committed a couple of unforced errors at both the flanks, while Sindhu came up with a backhand return near the net to reduce the margin to 10-13, but Tai quickly recovered to extend her domination to 16-13.
Sindhu tried to anticipate her deceptive rival and put Tai in awkward positions a few times, but she hit long or at the net to allow the Taiwanese lead 18-14.
A gritty Sindhu, however, kept breathing down her neck and soon clawed back at 18-18 but that was not enough as the Taiwanese took the first game at 21-18.
In the second game, Sindhu was left to deal with some indecision due to the sidewise drift which gave early advantage to Tai but the gritty Indian levelled the score at 4-4 with a superb return at her rival’s forehand.
Sindhu produced a overhead backhand flick, a deceptive return at the forecourt and another smash to move to 10-7 before entering the lemon break with a two-point advantage when Tai found the net.
However, Tai dominated the proceedings after the interval, despite a fighting Sindhu trying to snap at her heels. Sindhu saved two match points before Tai sealed the fate of the match with a perfect drop shot.