Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu notched up her second women’s singles title of the season with a straight-game win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the summit clash of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament here on Sunday. In the men’s singles final, HS Prannoy goes down fighting 10-21, 18-21 against Jonatan Christie.
Playing her second successive final in the tournament, Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, took 49 minutes to get the better of the fourth-seeded Thai 21-16 21-8 at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel.
It was Sindhu’s 16th win over Busanan in 17 meetings, having lost to the Thai only once — at the 2019 Hong Kong Open.
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Sindhu had lost to Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in the last edition.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad has happy memories of this venue as she had claimed the World Championships gold in 2019.
Sindhu had won the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow in January this year.
Super 300 tournaments are the second lowest tier of BWF Tour events.
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Sindhu rode on her attack to open up a 3-0 lead but Busanan started to stay in the rallies and she produced some good quality shots to make it 7-7.
Busanan tried to keep Sindhu away from the net, making her move across the court but the Thai was erratic in her finishing, allowing the Indian to go into the break with a narrow two-point lead.
Busanan used her deceptions and drop shots to dictate the rallies but Sindhu relied on her retrieval skills to stay ahead.
A precise return at the backline gave Sindhu four game points and she sealed the first game when Busanan went wide.
Busanan struggled with her length after the change of sides to concede a 0-5 lead early on in the second game. Sindhu looked more aggressive as she troubled the Thai with her acute angle shots to dictate the rallies.
In full flow, the Indian soon cruised to a decisive nine-point advantage at the interval. She kept a firm grip on the match to gallop to 18-4, riding on her alert front court play and precise returns.
Busanan continued to hit wide and long to eventually hand over 16 match points to the Indian, who pocketed the game and the match comfortably.
As for Prannoy, a former world number 8, he finished a creditable second best after making his first final in the last five years.
The 29-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram has been grappling with multiple health issues after being diagnosed with a gastroesophageal reflux disease in 2018 and COVID-19 infection in 2019.
On Sunday, Prannoy couldn’t match the accuracy and power of Jonatan, who looked in complete control of the final.
The Indian looked competitive in the early part of the opening game as he quickly erased the early 1-4 deficit and moved to 5-5 but Jonatan pulled away from 8-8 to take a three-point cushion at the breather.
Prannoy was erratic while Jonatan looked rock solid in his defence as the Indonesian created a huge gap with a seven-point burst to grab seven game points. The Indian saved two before conceding the opening game.
The second game was a close affair as the duo moved together till 7-7 before Jonatan again opened up a 11-7 lead at the interval.
Prannoy was not able to sustain the pressure in the rallies, while Jonatan was composed and was rewarded more often for his cross court smashes and fine front-court play.
The Indian did well to claw his way back to 13-13 but a reversal slice helped Jonatan break the run of points.
The momentum shifted again as Jonatan led 19-14 with Prannoy committing a slew of errors. Another winner gave the Indonesian five championship point. Prannoy saved three before hitting the net.
(With inputs from PTI)
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