SINDHU LOSES TO OKUHARA IN SEMIS, INDIAN CAMPAIGN ENDS

SINGAPORE:PV Sindhu looked out of form as she surrendered without a fight to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s singles semi-finals to draw curtains on India’s campaign at the Singapore Open here on Saturday.

The Rio Olympics silver medallist lost 7-21, 11-21 to world No 3 Okuhara in a lopsided contest.

Sindhu had won the last two times they played each other and enjoyed a 7-6 advantage in head-to-head. The duo had played an epic final at the 2017 World Championships that had clocked 110 minutes. Since that marathon match, Sindhu and Okuhara have played each other six times and the Indian won four times.

But on Saturday, Sindhu looked out of sorts; just 15 minutes into the match she surrendered the first game following a heap of unforced errors, mainly at the net and sidelines.

While in-form Okuhara showed great control, Sindhu looked low in confidence and lacked the patience to engage her rival in long rallies.

After the change of sides, Sindhu lagged 1-3 but she recovered to made it 4-4. Okuhara then changed the pace of the rallies and gathered six straight points, which included two precise lifts at the backline and also a prompt net return. The Japanese reached 11-5 at the interval.

With Sindhu continuing to commit simple errors, which included missing the lines and finding the net too often, Okuhara dominated the proceedings, gathering points at will. Okuhara kept the pressure on Sindhu and eventually a cross court return took her to 18-8.

Four wide shots delayed the inevitable before Okuhara grabbed nine match points with another superb cross court smash. Another cross court return and she sealed her place in the final where she will face world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who saved five match points to take the match against Akane Yamaguchi to the decider and then won 15-21, 24-22, 21-19 in 57 minutes.