Second seed PV Sindhu takes on fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women's singles final of Thailand Open — World Tour Super 500 tournament at Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok on Sunday, July 15.
When does the match start and how to watch it live
The women's singles final will not start before 4:30 pm local time, 3 pm IST and 10:30 am BST.
Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream will be available on Hotstar and Jio TV.
Sindhu vs Okuhara: What to expect
Top-ranked Indian shuttler Sindhu fended off a firm challenge from world junior champion Gregoria Mariska on Saturday in a three-game Thailand Open semi-final that extended to an hour.
The second seed was pushed to the limits in the opening game, which she had won 23-21 but the Indonesian teenager fought back and forced a decider. Mariska was dominating Sindhu with deceptive style but ran out of gas in the third and final game, meekly surrendering to her higher-ranked opponent.
For Sindhu, it was an important win as she had failed to clear the final hurdles in Malaysia and Indonesia over the last few weeks.
Sindhu expecting another marathon against Okuhara
Sindhu, with the hard-fought win, has set up a rematch of last year's world championships, which turned out to be one of the longest matches in the history of women's singles, against Okuhara.
The Rio Olympic silver medalist expects nothing less than another marathon on Sunday. While expressing delight over her semi-final win, Sindhu said she would be ready for a "long match".
"I have played her a couple of times before and she's improved a lot. It was important to win the first set. I was a bit nervous as well. You have to keep up even if it's not your day. Tomorrow I will come prepared for a long match," Sindhu was quoted as saying by BWF's official website.
Okuhara, on the other hand, eased past India Open champion Beiwen Zhang in straight sets in the semi-final. After having struggled to get past the second round in her last two tournaments, the run to the final in Bangkok comes as the much-needed boost for the Japanese world number eight ahead of her title defence at World Championships, staring July 30 in China.
""I'm very happy as this is my first final this year. I was hoping to get as many matches as possible before the World Championships. I played just two matches in Malaysia and two in Indonesia. So it was important that I get more matchplay here, and I'm happy I will get to play five matches," Okuhara said.
Notably, the two shuttlers have faced each other 10 times in the past. After the agonising defeat at Glasgow final last year, Sindhu has managed to beat Okuhara twice, including the three-game slugfest at All England Championships earlier this year.
Thailand Open 2018: Women's singles TV guide and live stream
Malaysia: Astro Arena, Astro Arena HD; Live stream: Astro Go
China: CCTV 5+
