Bangkok: PV Sindhu’s title drought this year continued as she suffered a straight-game defeat against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the summit clash of the USD 350,000 Thailand Open badminton tournament here, Sunday. This is the eighth final Sindhu hasPV Sindhu lost since losing to Carolina Marin at the Olympics (see graphics).
Second seed Sindhu struggled with her consistency throughout the duel as fourth seeded Okuhara dominated the proceedings to beat the Indian 21-15, 21-18 in exactly 50 minutes.
It was Sindhu’s third disappointment in a final this year following her defeats in the summit clash of the India Open and Gold Coast CWG.
Sindhu had reached the semifinals and quarterfinals in her last two tournaments – in Malaysia and Indonesia – before this one.
World No.3 Sindhu showed glimpses of her best against World No.8 Okuhara, who except for the initial part of the second game, looked in complete control over the proceedings.
Okuhara took no time to get her grip on the match by taking a 6-2 lead in the opening game. Sindhu did not give up and used her long reach to great effect and came up with some aggressive cross-court smashes to reduce the margin to 15-17.
But then, Okuhara came up with some really aggressive net play which forced Sindhu to commit unforced errors and the Japanese pocketed four straight points to wrap up the first game in her favour.
Sindhu came out all guns blazing in the second game and showed aggressive intent, along with delicate net play to race to a 5-1 lead. However, the Japanese soon found her bearings and took lead at 7-6. Both the players went neck-and-neck thereafter till 14 apiece when Okuhara once again increased the tempo of her game by a few notches to take a 17-15 lead over her opponent.
Sindhu, however, was in no mood to give up and levelled the score at 18-all. However, Okuhara clinched three straight points to pocket the game and the title.
By virtue of this win, Okuhara has taken a 6-5 head-to-head lead over Sindhu. The last time the duo met at the All England Championships earlier this year, it was the Indian who had won.