PV Sindhu beats Asian Champion Wang Zhi Yi to claim her maiden Singapore Open, Super 500 title

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu won her third title this year as she defeated China’s Wang Zhi Yi 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 in an impressive performance at the Singapore Open final on Sunday.

Sindhu became the second Indian women’s shuttler – and third Indian overall – to win the Singapore Open title. Saina Nehwal (2010) and B Sai Praneeth (2017) have earlier lifted the title in women’s and men’s singles events respectively.

This was Sindhu’s first Super 500 title this year; she had earlier won the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open – both Super 300 titles – and an addition to her brimming cabinet which has a gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the World Championships besides two Olympic medals. This was Sindhu’s 18th career title.

The title run will come as a huge boost for the 27-year-old, who will be leading the Indian charge at the Commonwealth Games, starting July 28 in Birmingham.

The star India shuttler and former world champion put on a brilliant shift, as she collected 13 straight points to win the first game in merely 12 minutes; however, Wang made a bright comeback as she took only 18 minutes to run away with the second game. In the all-important decider, Sindhu held her nerve to seal a maiden title in Kallang.

“Getting this title means a lot, this would give me a lot of confidence, this will take me to another level. The whole week, a couple of matches were in three games, some were in two. But each match was important from the start. Now it’s time to relax a bit and focus on the Commonwealth Games. This is just the start, but it’ll give me a lot of confidence,” Sindhu said after the win.