PV Sindhu loses Hong Kong Open final

India ace shuttler PV Sindhu on Sunday lost the Hong Kong Open Super Series women's singles final to defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

PV Sindhu lost 18-21, 18-21 against the world no 1.

Tai moved to a 3-0 lead early on in the opening game which lasted 21 minutes. However, Tai unleashed her wide repertoire of strokes and varied the pace well to lead 7-2, PTI reported.

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Sindhu narrowed the deficit to 6-7 by dominating the rallies by using her deep clears and drew the Taiwanese close to the net. She used her reach to catch the shuttle early and placed it in difficult positions.

A deceptive net return gave Tai a point. The Taiwanese then produced a smash on the deep backhand corner of Sindhu and moved to 10-7.

At the break, the Taiwanese had a three-point advantage.

After the breather, Tai made unforced errors at both flanks and Sindhu came up with a backhand return near the net to reduce the margin to 10-13. Tai, however, quickly recovered to extend her domination to 16-13.
Sindhu put Tai in awkward positions a few times, but she hit long or at the net to allow the Taiwanese lead 18-14.

The gritty shuttler from Hyderabad soon clawed back at 18-18.

During the next rally, the string of the Sindhu's racquet broke and Tai unleashed a smash which left the Indian frustrated. Tai produced another smash on Sindhu backhand to move to game point. She then grabbed the opening game after winning a video referral when her shuttle landed on the line.

In the second game, Sindhu initially levelled the score at 4-4 with a superb return at her rival's forehand. She moved to 10-7 before entering the lemon break with a two-point advantage when Tai found the net.

However, Tai dominated the proceedings after the interval, despite a gritty Sindhu trying to keep pace.

This was Sindhu'ssecond successive final of the tournament against Tai who had an upper hand over Sindhu, having defeated the ace shuttler from Hyderabad in seven of the last ten encounters, including the All England and Australian Open tournaments this year.

Earlier, PV Sindhu fended off sixth-seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-17 21-17 in a one-sided semi-final contest that lasted 43 minutes.

Sindhu, 22, had won the India Open and the Korea Open Super Series titles earlier this year.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)