Muristek
Swiss open: Swiss bliss for PV Sindhu but Prannoy loses to Christie in finals
Basel, March 27
Ace India shuttler PV Sindhu clinched her second women's singles title of the season with a straight-game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan but HS Prannoy went down fighting in the men's singles finals at the Swiss Open Super 300 here today.
Playing her second successive finals of the tournament, Sindhu took 49 minutes to get the better of the fourth-seeded Ongbamrungphan 21-16 21-8 at the St Jakobshalle here.
However, Prannoy suffered a 12-21 18-21 defeat to the Asian Games gold medallist and fourth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in a 48-minute clash.
For Sindhu, it was a moment of glory as she finally lifted the trophy after losing to the Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain in the last edition's finals. The 26-year-old has good memories of this venue as she had also claimed the World Championships gold in 2019.
On Sunday, Sindhu registered her 16th win over Ongbamrungphan in 17 meetings, having lost to the Thai only once ndash; at the 2019 Hong Kong Open, to claim the Super 300 crown, the second-lowest tier of the BWF Tour events.
Sindhu had won the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow in January this year.
She rode on her attack to go 3-0 up but Ongbamrungphan started to stay in the rallies and produced some quality shots to make it 7-7.
Ongbamrungphan tried to keep Sindhu away from the net initially, 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.
Ongbamrungphan 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 Ongbamrungphan went wide.
The Thai 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 and dictated the terms with her acute angle shots.
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 frontcourt play and precise returns.
Ongbamrungphan continued to hit wide and long to eventually hand over 16 match points, and eventually the match. —