Indian shuttler PV Sindhu’s bid for a title came to an end in the Arctic Open, as the eighth seed went down fighting to fifth seed Zhi Yi Wang of China here on Saturday.
Sindhu lost the opening game 12-21 before bouncing back in the second 21-11. However, the Chinese upped the ante in the final game, beating Sindhu 21-7.
The Indian had begun the tournament with a win over Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the opening round, followed by a straight game victory over Hsu Wen-chi of Taiwan in the second round.
In the quarter final, Sindhu prevailed over Nguyễn Thùy Linh of Vietnam before her semi-final loss that ended India’s run in the tournament.
Sindhu recently also participated in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, where she could not progress beyond the quarter final stage in the women’s singles competition.
In the quarter final match, from an 11-4 lead at the mid-game break, Sindhu, the world No 13 saw herself trailing 14-18 as she lost the the game 20-22 after some long rallies.
But in the second game, Sindhu hit six straight points going into the interval.
The Vietnamese tried to find her way back into the game, winning three points on the trot and took an 18-14 lead.
But the 2019 world champion Sindhu was back at her fighting best as she denied her opponent three points to seal the match, reeling off five successive points that took the match to the decider.