Malaysia Open badminton: PV Sindhu turns up heat after slow start to overcome Sung Shuo Yun in season-opener

PV Sindhu was returning to court after a long time away from action, having ended her 2025 season early due to injury. (File Image/BAI)

By a strange quirk of fate, PV Sindhu was drawn to face Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun to start her season for the second calendar year in a row. Back in 2025, it was at the India Open, where Sindhu had returned to training only a few days prior after her brief break for off-season wedding festivities. She was off to a flying start, but was pushed to her limits in the second game. This time around, Sindhu was returning to court after a long time away from action, having ended her 2025 season early due to injury. So when she trailed 1-7 at the start of the match, there were signs of rustiness.

Sindhu, however, shook off the rust quickly and turned up the heat on Sung, showing shades of her best attacking game and also defensive solidity when pushed around, coming through 21-13, 22-20 in 51 minutes at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Carrying on from her good start, there was a 22-shot rally won by Sung for 8-4. But at this point, it felt like Sindhu was getting into a decent groove in terms of movement and shot quality, even though she lost that point. And it proved so as the Indian killed off the next two points quickly with her power. A couple of whipped forehand smash down-the-line winners made it 9-9 and by then it was evident Sindhu was starting to dictate the tempo and not being reactive. A measure of Sindhu’s rhythm is how well she hits the round-the-head forehand crosscourt smash and it is that shot that gave her an 11-9 lead at the mid-game interval.

Right out of the break, Sung dictated a rally where she moved Sindhu around in defence, and this time she was able to absorb the pressure and put away a smash for 12-9. The streak of consecutive points for Sindhu went up to 10 with yet another whipped crosscourt forehand winner for 16-9. If the turnaround was built on sheer power that Sindhu has always had, the opening game was sealed by a delightfully deceptive backhand drive, holding the racket head back for that one extra moment and pushing it flat into Sung’s forehand corner.

Sung once again made a good start to the second game, a delightfully deft backhand at the frontcourt saw the shuttle kiss the top of the net cord and fall flat on the other side for a 3-1 lead. A lovely change of pace from Sindhu saw her inch ahead 7-6, when she mixed up her smashes with a half-sliced drop, which would have perhaps reminded her opponent’s coach of his illustrious ward, the now retired Tai Tzu Ying.

The contest itself at this point was much more even as Sung managed to bring a lot more defensive stability to the exchanges and making Sindhu work extra hard to create openings. A couple of good body attacks gave Sindhu a handy 11-8 lead at the mid-game interval. The fight seemed to fizzle out of Sung as Sindhu moved ahead 14-9 but the Taipei shuttler found a second wind, playing with a bit more creativity with the match slipping away, and made it 15-15.

Then came the point of the match as both players used the crosscourt blocks to good effect to draw each other forward, then causing imbalance in court positions, before a clever half smash from Sindhu floored Sung at the end of a brutal exchange. It brought out the first big fist pump of the day from Sindhu.

There was some drama at the end as Sindhu could have been 20-17 up after what initially seemed like an elite crosscourt winner at the net but Sung reviewed it correctly, and suddenly it was 19-19. Sindhu was rushing into her shots, eager to finish the match in straight games. Eventually, she held her nerve to finish off her second match point on a day where she ticked off most start-of-the-season metrics.