A much improved PV Sindhu fought hard before going down against world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 12-21, 17-21 in the first of her three round-robin league matches at the BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok.
After faltering in the last two weeks, Sindhu looked like to be getting back to her best as she gave a tough time to Tai in the 59-minute contest in Group B.
The Indian returns were sharp and her smashes were powerful and penetrative in the three-game encounter. She matched the pace of Tai and he even retrieved many of the net shots effortlessly.
Trailing 17-19 in the first game, Sindhu stunned Tai as she secured four straight points to win the game.
In the second, Sindhu lost momentum after Tai opened up a 6-0 lead. Sindhu played well in the second part of the game, but was unable to reduce the huge lead she had conceded.
The third game was much closer and Sindhu followed Tai up to 17-18. But a couple of mistakes at this stage proved costly for Sindhu.
Despite the loss, the Indian will be satisfied with her performance as she troubled Tai and regained her lost touch.
Sindhu said that breaking her racket strings twice made the difference. “It was a good match, there were no easy points. In the third game I came back and it was just one point difference at one stage. I broke my racket strings twice (during rallies) and that made a difference. Otherwise, it was a good game. It’s a tough group. It really depends on that day. I have to give 100 percent,” Sindhu told the BWF website.
In the women’s singles Group A matches, Carolina Marin of Spain and An Se Young of South Korea registered victory. While Marin made short work of Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia 21-19, 21-14, Young defeated Michelle Li of Canada 21-12, 21-17.