PV Sindhu marches into final of Thailand Open 2018

PV Sindhu defeated Indonesian Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to enter the women’s singles final of Thailand Open 2018. It was a hard fought battle which ended in favour of the Indian star shuttler.

Sindhu needed just three games but had to play over an hour to get past the world junior champion, who played like a champion. The Indonesian brought her prime game to the match against the Indian Olympic silver medalist. The encounter was an intriguing one. In the end, PV Sindhu managed to book a rematch against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the final of the Thailand Open 2018.

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The 18-year-old Gregoria Mariska crashed out of the competition 21-23, 21-16, 9-21 in Bangkok on Saturday. Prior to Thailand Open’s semi-final game, Sindhu had faced the Indonesian twice and it was the Indian who triumphed on both occasions. With the win on Saturday, the Hyderabadi took her head to head tally to 3-0 against the teenager. Earlier, Sindhu reached the semi-final by knocking out Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah in straight games at the USD 350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 tournament.

In the final on Sunday, Sindhu will reignite her rivalry with Okuhara, who had beaten her in a marathon world championship final last year. It will be a great chance for the Indian to avenge her defeat last. Though, after that match in August, Sindhu has beaten Okuhara two times, with the Japanese winning only once in three meetings.

The overall head to head count against each other is 5-5, but significantly Sindhu won their only meeting this year at the All England Open quarterfinals in March.

Sindhu will become the fourth Indian to win the tournament after Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth if she manages to do so. These three Indian stars achieved the feat in 2012, 2013 and 2017 respectively.