DUBAI: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu avenged her heart-breaking
loss at the Rio Games to two-time World Champion Carolina Marin with a
thrilling straight-game victory in a do-or-die women's singles Group B
contest and sealed her place at the semi-finals of the BWF World Super
Series Finals here on Friday.
In
a much-anticipated contest, Sindhu came up trumps against the Olympic
champion Marin, who had spoiled her gold medal dream at Rio in August.
The Indian dished out an energetic performance to see off a fighting
Marin 21-17 21-13 in a hard-fought battle that lasted 46 minutes.
A
former World No. 1 Marin, who held a 5-2 head to head record, tried to
play an aggressive fast-paced game and pumped herself with each point,
letting out a war cry but Sindhu was equally up for the battle of nerves
and she showed tremendous grit and nerves to emerge victories in a
crucial contest.
With this win, Sindhu finished in the second place behind China's Sun Yu, who won all the three matches, in Group B.
Both
the players started with an aggressive rally and even though Sindhu had
a 2-0 lead early on, Marin soon turned the tables at 4-3 when the
Indian hit long. The Spaniard made it 7-3 with Sindhu playing a few
nervous strokes.
However, Sindhu changed her approach
and got hold of her nerves and reeled off five points to lead 8-7. But
again two long shots from Sindhu and Marin was 9-8 up.
The
left-handed Marin soon came up with a sharp smash which an outstretched
Sindhu could not connect. But the Indian immediately produced three
straight points and entered the break with a slender 11-10 lead after
producing a superb cross court smash which found Marin napping.
A
lucky net chord helped Sindhu to lead 13-12 after the break which she
swelled to 16-12 with Marin finding the net and hitting long.
The
duo continued to battle hard and engaged in some fast paced rallies
with each trying to outdo the other with sharp acute angled strokes.
Eventually Sindhu grabbed six game point advantage when Marin missed the
baseline. The Spaniard saved three points before the Indian sealed the
game with a superb smash.
Marin needed medical treatment for what seemed like a bruise in her feet before the start of the second game.
The
Spaniard used her deceptive returns to put Sindhu in trouble and opened
up a 3-1 lead which the Indian soon erased and grabbed a 5-3 advantage
after another excruciating rally.
Sindhu
tried to keep her opponent away from the net and kept tossing the
shuttle at the back of the court. The ploy seemed to work as Marin
committed errors while trying to use deception to break the rhythm.
Sindhu
was equally athletic on court as she stretched, jumped and dived all
across to cover the court and entered the interval with an 11-6 lead
after Marin sent the shuttle wide twice.
At
13-7, Sindhu missed the sidelines and coach Pullela Gopichand tried to
calm her down. With Marin continuing to struggle with her strokes,
Sindhu soon lead 17-10 and eventually grabbed a 21-13 match point
advantage when Marin hit long after another exciting rally. The Indian
then sealed the match as the Spaniard found the net again.
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