Guangzhou: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu finally broke her jinx against World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying with a come-from-behind win in a thriller, while Sameer Verma outclassed Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto at the World Tour Finals here Thursday.
After six successive losses in 13 meetings, Sindhu got the better of her nemesis Ying of Chinese Taipei 14-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a Group A match that lasted a little over an hour.
World No.14 Sameer, who qualified for the tournament at the last moment after defending his title at the Syed Modi International last month, dished out a dominating performance to beat the 10th ranked Sugiarto 21-16, 21-7 in a 40-minute group B clash. The 24-year-old Indian had lost the opening match against World No.1 and World Champion Kento Momota.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up in the last edition, gave ample display of her grit as she bounced back from a game down and erased 6-11 deficit in the final game to record her first win over Asian Games champion Ying since the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sindhu was lagging 2-6 early on. Tai extended her lead to 8-4 after Sindhu went long and wide. Ying was ahead at 11-7 at the first break. After the breather, Ying reached 15-8. Later she grabbed six game points when Sindhu went to the net and sealed the opening game as the Indian went long.
In the second game, Sindhu jumped to 6-3 before leading 11-6 at the break. Tzu Ying tried to stage a comeback but Sindhu managed to extend her advantage before grabbing six game points to seal the second set.
In the final game, Ying led 3-0 early before going on to lead 11-6 at the break. After the last change of ends, Sindhu made it 11-12 before three unforced errors from Ying helped the Indian lead 16-13. Then Sindhu didn’t let the game slip away, as she sealed the match in style.