PV Sindhu pulled out all the stops to make it through to the final of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 on Saturday, after beating Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 13-21, 21-16, 21-12 in their semi-final clash Kuala Lumpur.
This is the first time Sindhu has reached the final of a BWF event in more than a year, after she made the summit clash of the Madrid Masters in April last year. The last tour event she won was the Singapore Open in July 2022.
Sindhu came into the match with an impressive 17-1 record over Ongbamrungphan. But it was the Thai shuttler who started stronger, taking the first game 21-13 in a matter of 25 minutes.
The Indian, a two-time Olympic medallist, dusted herself off quickly at the change of ends and started to claw her way back into the game. She kept pace with her opponent on the scoreboard. But at 9-9, Sindhu started to play her aggressive strokes consistently to break through Ongbamrungphan’s defence.
The errors started piling up from the Thai shuttler, as Sindhu took the second game 21-16 to force the match into the decider.
Sindhu continued in that same vein, winning four points on the trot to go from 4-2 to 8-2.
As Ongbamrungphan tried to fight back, Sindhu was vigilant in defence, and remained tireless as the rallies started to extend. Eventually, another four consecutive points took her from 13-10 to 17-10, as the Indian shuttler closed in on an 18th win against the Thai player.
Eventually, another error from the Ongbamrungphan helped Sindhu convert her first match point opportunity and seal a spot in the final.
Sindhu, the fifth seed, had beaten top seed Han Yue in the quarter-final. In the final on Sunday, she will face second seed of China Wang Zhi Yi.
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