It was touted as a blockbuster final and while there were shades of it, the brilliance of Nozomi Okuhara ensured that the Thailand Open summit clash on Sunday against PV Sindhu was, for large parts, a one-sided affair.
After the opening exchanges, it seemed as if the crowd in Bangkok was in for yet another slugfest between these two shuttlers, like the one-hour-50-minute-long world championship final last year. At 2-2 in the first game, Sindhu and Okuhara engaged in a gripping 37-shot rally that ended in favour of the Japanese.
The rally, however, seemed to take something out of Sindhu as she conceded five points in a row and allowed Okuhara to open up a gap, which the Japanese managed to maintain till the end of the game. Sindhu tried her best to attack, unleashing powerful smashes from the faster side of the court, but Okuhara had an answer for almost everything that was thrown at her as she won the first game easily 21-15.
Moving to the slower side of the court for the second game, Sindhu used it to her advantage initially as she got her smashes placed spot on, knowing that the shuttle would not go long. The world No 3 opened up a 5-1 lead to begin the second game. However, a few unforced errors from the Indian allowed Okuhara to claw back to 6-6.
Sindhu still managed to take a slender 11-9 lead into the break of the second game, and looked determined to force the match into a decider. However, this is when Okuhara showed a side of her game that caught Sindhu quite by surprise, as the Japanese began to attack and finish points off quickly.
Another epic rally ensued as the second game inched towards its end, with both players going hammer and tongs at each other. But the world champion proved to be at a notch higher than the Olympic silver medallist on the day, as Okuhara wrapped up the match in straight games.
The defeat meant that Sindhu will head to the world championships in Nanjing later this month without winning a single title this season so far. This was the third final she has lost in this year, after the India Open and the Commonwealth Games.
Other results
Mixed doubles: Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emmanuelle Widjaja beat Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock 21-12, 21-12.
Men’s doubles: Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda beat Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe 21-17, 21-19.
Women’s doubles: Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu beat Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi 21-13, 21-10.
Men’s singles: Kanta Tsuneyama beat Tommy Sugiarto 21-16, 13-21, 21-9.
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