BWF World Tour Finals: Disappointing end to 2019, PV Sindhu fails to reach semis
PV Sindhu's title defence at the BWF World Tour Finals ended with her second consecutive loss on Thursday. Top seed Chen Yufei of China came from behind to defeat India's Sindhu 20-22, 21-16, 21-12 in 72 minutes.
On the opening day of the season-ending tournament, which is being played in Guangzhou, Sindhu lost to Akane Yamaguchi in three games. Even in this match, eighth-seeded Sindhu clinched the first game before losing the next two.
Now, with Sindhu's defeat and Yamaguchi winning her second match against He BingJiao in Group A, it was confirmed that the Indian golden girl was eliminated from the tournament, where she made it to the semis in 2016, settled for a silver medal in 2017 before finally winning it the following season in 2018.
Even after a few setbacks in the first set, Sindhu always found a way to make a comeback. Trailing 17-20 in the opening game, the reigning champion scored five straight points and changed tables around. She was once again on the brink at 19-20 but Sindhu saved the crucial game point before she saved two more of those. Eventually, she converted her very first match point to take the first game 20-22.
World No. 2, Chen Yufei has been in the form of her life this season. Prior to the World Tour Finals, she made it to six finals and won them all including All England Championships. She attacked Sindhu from the very beginning of the second game and in no time, the Chinese equalised by taking the second game at 21-16.
China's Chen Yufei had the home fans behind her at the Guangzhou stadium. But, Sindhu kept her composure and managed to be ahead in the decider at 11-10. Unfortunately, the in-form Chen Yufei left no stone unturned as she clinched the next 11 points out of 12 to end Sindhu's title defence.
Sindhu still had a chance to remain alive in the tournament, provided Akane Yamaguchi lost her Thursday's fixture. However, that did not happen, ending Sindhu's World Tour Finals' campaign inside two days.