Indonesia Open: PV Sindhu goes down in first round, no rematch against Carolina Marin

The next time PV Sindhu steps onto the court for a competitive match will be at the Paris Olympics. The Indian ace had a disappointing exit at the Indonesia Open on Wednesday, losing in the first round of the Super 1000 event against Wen Chi Hsu. And with this defeat – 15-21, 21-15, 14-21 – Sindhu must enter prep mode as she trains her sights on Paris.

It was a strange Asian leg for Sindhu, with three tournaments lined up to try and improve her rankings. Malaysia Masters was a solid outing for her, as she reached the final in Kuala Lumpur on the back of hard-fought three-game wins against Sim Yu Jin, Han Yue, and Busanan Ongbamrungphan. A title was within her grasp as she had a handy lead in the decider against Wang Zhi Yi, but she crumbled in the endgame.

Next up, Singapore. A long-awaited rematch was set up against Carolina Marin. A real test in the lead up to Paris, a golden opportunity to get a win after six years against her nemesis (who as it turned out was carrying a niggle too)… and again, she had a big enough lead in the decider that was squandered. After the high of Malaysia, it was a missed opportunity.

Then, Indonesia. Again, Marin was looming in the second round. A quick shot at redemption awaited Sindhu, if she could just get past Hsu in the opening round. The Chinese Taipei shuttler has struggled against Sindhu in the past, losing thrice in three meetings, all in straight games. It was such a lopsided Head-to-Head that
Hsu had never crossed 15 points in a game against Sindhu.

It was a different story at the Istora Senayan though, as Hsu went up to 16 points when Sindhu was on 6. The former world champion simply couldn’t buy a point in those early exchanges.

Sindhu did recover from that point, putting together a run of six straight points to get some momentum back. But the damage was already done in the opening game.

It wouldn’t be until 11-10 at the mid-game interval in the second game that Sindhu first had a lead. She’d close the game out 21-15 and looked to be back in control.

The third game was superbly contested early on, with some fantastic rallies from both players but Sindhu had the early edge at 9-6. But a backline misjudgment – an increasingly frequent occurrence in recent times – saw her squander a chance to take a 11-9 lead into the final change of ends. Instead, Hsu took charge and once again, it was a collapse of Sindhu’s fight in the endgame of a decider.

A training stint in Germany has been arranged for Sindhu in the lead up to Paris, and it is evident there is a lot to ponder about for her support team.

Physically she might be in good shape but inconsistencies have set in elsewhere. As she enters the zone of getting ready for the Olympics, which she is known to be really good at, Sindhu will be hoping to repeat history. Form leading up to a Major has never bogged her down in the past, and it is that she must channel into once more.

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Elsewhere, Paris-bound duo of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa progressed to the next round with a 21-15, 21-15 win over Canada’s Jackie Dent and Crystal Lai in their women’s doubles first round clash. On Tuesday, Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy had won their first-round matches.

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