Sindhu settles for Silver at Dubai Superseries Finals

Sindhu settled for another silver, again after the hard combat against the World no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the pulsating women’s summit clash of the BWF World Superseries Finals.

In the distinguished season-finale tournament, Sindhu broke her sweat out before giving the match with 21-15, 12-21, 19-21 to the Japanese in the 91-minute encounter.

Being the biggest tournament after the Glasgow World Championship, Dubai Superseries Finals comprised of the biggest prize purse of USD 1,000,000 and the 22-year-old Indian went down the wire to clinch the title.

The women’s singles final clash at the Finals was similar to the Glasgow World Championship finals as the duo captivated with the exchange of nerve-holding rallies.

Sindhu grabbed the opening game with the lead of 2-0 followed by the unforced errors and wrong judgement at the baseline, which allowed Yamaguchi to make 3-2. The Japanese saved another point at the net before Sindhu levelling the score at 5-5. With cross-court returns and wides, Yamaguchi went lucky to lead back with 7-5, who later was turned table.

With the 33-shot rally, Sindhu won couple of points with the overhead return and made the score 8-8 and then led by 10-8 before the half-time. Later, yet another fascinating cross court smash at her opponent to make 11-8.

After the interval, later, Yamaguchi picked three points and a video referral to her favour to lead with 11-14. Sindhu took the first game in 23 minutes with seven game point opportunities.

In the second game, Sindhu zoomed to a 5-0 lead followed by her service fault and Japanese’ wide shot, which helped the latter to make the score 6-2. Sindhu’s unforced errors and Yamaguchi’s body smashes allowed the Japanese to equal the score with 8-8. By the half-time, Yamaguchi lead the game with two-points at 11-8. Yamaguchi, who was leading at 16-12, scored five straight points and set up the third match with her opponent.

In the decider, Sindhu won the 51-shot rally and led the game with 4-0. However, Yamaguchi nailed back to 5-5 with a body smash and the mesmerizing baseline return. This time it was the Indian who was in advantage with three-points at the break, and at 15-15, Yamaguchi grabbed two quick points after Sindhu hit wide twice but the Indian then unleashed a jump cross court smash. The game was progressing with the hand-on-hand leads between the duo till 19-19.  

Yamaguchi  sealed the tournament in the 91-minute contested match by burying the Indian with the net at the frenzy filled Hamdan Sports Complex.