Sindhu storms into Hong Kong Open final
HONG KONG: Indian premier shuttler PV Sindhu defeated former world champion Ratchanok Intanon to reach the inal of Hong Kong Open Superseries here on Saturday.
Second seed Sindhu registered a 21-17, 21-17 win in 43 minutes over the Thai sixth seed at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
In the final on Sunday, Sindhu will be up against top seed Tai Tzu Ying, who moved past south Korean third seed Sung ji Hyun 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in 52 minutes.
It will be a repeat of 2016 edition’s final which saw Sindhu losing to Chinese Taipei’s top-ranked shuttler Tai 15-21, 17-21.
Tai enjoys a healthy 7-3 advantage in career head-to-head records. The 23-year-old has also won the three previous meetings between them.
Sindhu has now reached third final in the Superseries meets for the year. She has already won in India and South Korea.
COACH SATISFIED
Satisfied with her performance, coach Pullela Gopichand said that Sindhu played a smart game on Saturday.
“It’s a good match, Sindhu is playing very smartly smart and mixing her pace and defence. She is moving quite well and looks in good shape,” said Gopichand, adding that Sindhu should implement a perfect strategy in the final.
He predicted it be a tough match. “It will be a tough match but she should stick to the strategy to win it,” he added.
Despite playing without rest in the last one and half month, Sindhu looked fresh during the match. She deployed a new strategy against the former world champion.