Carolina Marin thrashed PV Sindhu 21-12, 21-5 in the final to win her first Swiss Open title in Basel on Sunday.
The Olympic champion toyed with the world champion at the BWF Super-300 tournament. Such was the dominance of the Spaniard that the Indian managed to win just five points in the second game. Of all the five finals on Sunday, this was the biggest margin of victory.
Sindhu’s poor form was exposed when she faced the first top-10 player of the tournament on Sunday. With no Japanese, Chinese and even Tai Tzu Ying in the tournament, Sindhu faced no real challenge till the final.
She was in the game only till 8-9 in the final. After that Marin treated Sindhu like a kid. The top seed started the match with a lot of pace, she controlled the rallies and reigned supreme at the net.
Sindhu, surprisingly, struggled to play from the back of the court as Marin made the Indian move all over the court.
From 9-8, Marin zoomed to 15-8 with a five-point burst. She attacked Sindhu with an array of smashes and her cross-court drives near the net puzzled the Indian.
Marin finished the second game in just 15 minutes. She started with a 5-0 lead and before Sindhu scored the first three points, Marin was leading 14-3.
There was no coming back after that and as the Indian looked helpless on the court, Marin closed up with another cross-court drop to clinch the title.
After winning the world championship in August 2019, Sindhu played 14 tournaments and reached only one final. She will compete in the All England Championships scheduled to be held from March 17 to 21.
Meanwhile, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won the men’s singles title with a 21-16, 21-6 victory against Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the final.
Results (All finals)
Women’s singles: 1-Carolina Marin (ESP) bt 2-PV Sindhu 21-12, 21-5.
Men’s singles: 1-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt 8-Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-16, 21-6.
Men’s doubles: 6-Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Mark Lamsfuss/Marvin Seidel (Ger) 21-16, 21-11.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt 3-Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 21-19, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: 6-Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra B0je (Den) 21-19, 21-19.