PV Sindhu pushes Wang Zhiyi in another promising display, but Chinese star’s solidity comes through in Malaysia Open semifinal

Sindhu's best pathway to a win in the match would have been to take the opening game and apply scoreboard pressure on Wang (Badminton Photo)

As Wang Zhiyi hit a precise half smash to earn herself four game points in the opener, she turned around with a jump and pumped her fists. She was firing herself up for this battle and seemed extra eager to get one back against PV Sindhu. After all, the Indian had ended her hopes of going deep at the Paris World Championships last year, and held a 3-2 lead in the Head-to-Head. Indeed, Sindhu played some really neat badminton once more this week in Kuala Lumpur and led in the first half of both games against Wang, but the Chinese is the world’s second-best shuttler in women’s singles for a reason as she problem-solved her way to a 21-16, 21-15 win in 52 minutes at the Malaysia Open Super 1000.

The scoreline might suggest a certain level of comfort for Wang, but the match time – 52 minutes – is a better indicator of how hard she was made to work for the win, albeit well deserved. A combination of Sindhu’s radar misfiring when she was in control, Wang’s guaranteed solidity in rallies and net cords intervening at inopportune moments for the Indian saw the world No 2 win nine straight points in the second game from 8-13 down in a run that proved ultimately decisive.

At 2-2 in Game 1, Sindhu nailed the round-the-head crosscourt smash that would have been a winner against almost anyone else on the tour, except An Se-young, but Wang hit a superb defensive backhand to keep the shuttle alive. Even though Sindhu won that rally, it would have told Sindhu how difficult Wang was going to make this for her. As would have, the point at 4-2 where Sindhu had to hit three kill-shots at the net before eventually putting the shuttle down.

A backhand block to the frontcourt from Wang made it 5-5 and she nailed a forehand clear to Sindhu’s deep backhand corner after a patient rally to catch the line perfectly for 6-6. Sindhu kept her nose ahead 9-7, just playing simple, solid badminton. 10-10 was a fair reflection of how the match started, but despite trailing for most of it, Wang took the mid-game lead by a solitary point, meeting the Indian’s tight net forehand with a tighter backhand.

But after the interval, courtesy of a whipped flat crosscourt forehand, Sindhu caught up again and inched ahead. A sensational forehand clear to beat the tall frame of Sindhu over her head and a tight net to make the Indian lunge and lift the shuttle long saw Wang retake the lead, and it was at this point that the Chinese No 1 started gaining control. Wang’s punch-clear to the backcourt made Sindhu misjudge the shuttle length, and she found herself trailing by 3 points for the first time at 14-17. A wonderfully precise hold-and-flick backhand drive from Sindhu made it 16-19 but Wang responded with a cleverly disguised half smash of her own. A soft error from Sindhu gave Wang the opening game.

Sindhu’s best pathway to a win in the match would have been to take the opening game and apply scoreboard pressure on Wang, but that wasn’t on the cards anymore. To her credit, she remained sharp early on in Game 2, hitting two lovely winners at the end of well-constructed rallies to make it 3-3, a quiet fist pump popping up after nailing a round-the-head forehand crosscourt to floor Wang. The rally at 3-3 was a point-of-the-contender rally that Sindhu killed by taking a backhand early from midcourt position to catch Wang on the backfoot. Sindhu’s smash wasn’t winning her points outright but they were setting up a kill even when Wang somehow managed to keep the shuttle in play, just as it did for her to take a 10-6 lead.

The Indian’s best spell of the match gave her a handy 11-6 lead at the interval but the next few minutes would be the opposite.

Wang came out with a higher intensity after the break to close the gap to 9-11. Sindhu played two sensational rallies after that, conducting the tempo with patient lifts and clears to the backcourt and then drawing Wang forward with deft touches, to move up 13-9. But three consecutive loose errors from the Indian – jarring because of her quality otherwise – brought Wang level and soon the world No 2 moved ahead 14-13 with five points in a row. Then came two heavy slices of bad luck for Sindhu, as Wang managed to find the top of the net cord and let the shuttle trickle down dead on the Indian’s side. That those two points came at the end of rallies that Sindhu appeared to be in control of didn’t help her cause. Wang put her hand up in apology for a third time to move up 19-14. And it was sufficient to douse Sindhu’s fight on the day.