By Srijita Chakraborty
PV Sindhu’s campaign at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 has ended in the semifinals on Saturday, but not before she has exuded elements of regaining confidence in competing against the toughest. However, she was defeated by Wang Zhiyi of China with a 16-21, 15-21 result in their women’s singles match that lasted 52 minutes in Kuala Lumpur.
Although the score reflects it as an easy win for the world number 2 player, the game was not as easy as it appeared. Sindhu was in command of the game in most parts of the match. She had taken a lead in the opening games through her powerful gameplay. She performed well in the second game as she led 11-6 in the first nil-null lead change through her deep shots at Wang and her perfect play at the net.
However, Wang has shown why she is currently the second-best player in the world after An Se-young. She was quite calm and let Sindhu’s confidence waver at some points, which increased her own defence. Sindhu was 8-13 down in the second game, but she took nine consecutive points to turn the game heavily in her favor.
The opening match saw more or less a similar pattern of events, with Sindhu locked in a rally after rally battle with Wang before the latter stepped up her speed towards the end of the match.
The match that Sindhu played was followed by another one, where it was seen that the exposure that Sindhu had in Malaysia has been helpful for her, as it will enable her to face any circumstances in the times to come. Her next tournament will be India Open Super 750 in New Delhi. Even in this defeat, there were many bright spots for Sindhu in her performance. The season has gained momentum.