PV Sindhu bows out in semis

Jay Asser 21:41 17/12/2016
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  • Crowd favourite PV Sindhu couldn’t make her UAE stay a triumphant one as the Indian crashed out of the semi-finals following a back-and-forth tug of war with Sung Ji Hyun in the Dubai World Superseries Finals.

    The packed house at Hamdan Sports Complex deafeningly cheered on the Olympic silver medallist, but the backing wasn’t enough to overcome a dominant third-game display by the Korean, who booked her place in the women’s singles final with a 21-15, 18-21, 21-15 win on Saturday.

    Sung jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the deciding game, seizing all the cushion she would need to stave off Sindhu’s scrappy fightback. The barrage also erased any momentum her opponent had built up after winning the final three points of the second game to even the match.

    “I think from the beginning of the third set, I would have kept much more control,” Sindhu said of what she would have done differently. “I gave her [four] points in a row, so that I would have changed.
    “She went on and kept going. I think that made a big difference.”

    The first game was tight until the very end, when Sung pulled away by claiming six of the final seven points on offer.

    With both players evenly-matched, the result came down to which players went on more scoring runs and on this day, that distinction belonged to Sung.

    “She knows my game and I know her game,” Sindhu said. “It depends on that day.”

    For Sung, it was a courageous effort in front of a very one-sided audience, but the world No4 felt the raucous environment might have actually played in her favour, if at all.

    “There was great fan support for Sindhu but sometimes that may also put pressure on her because there is a lot of expectation,” Sung said.

    “But actually for me I was trying to forget about the atmosphere and focus on the game. It didn’t really matter very much to me.”

    Regardless, Sindhu certainly noticed the increase in turnout and was thankful of the overwhelming support.

    “A big thanks to everybody because the whole week they’ve been very supportive. Definitely I would come back next year hopefully with good results,” she said.

    Sung will now meet Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying in the final today after the world No1 punched her ticket to the title match earlier with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over China’s Sun Yu.

    Tai, who won in Dubai in 2014, reversed history by ending a five-match drought against Sun with an impressive performance.

    In the second game, Tai overcame an early 3-0 hole and later, when it appeared Sun would force a decider, earned seven of the final nine points to seal the win.

    “I’ve always made too many mistakes in past matches against her, while she was always stable,” Tai said. “Today I tried to cut down on the errors. I’m very happy to have finally beaten her after five losses.”

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