PV Sindhu is one of India's biggest hopes in the Singapore Open, and the shuttler has moved into the second round of the competition. The Indian shuttler had a tricky opening round match against Japan's Nozumi Okuhara and Sindhu won the match 10-21, 21-15 and 22-20, lasting 62 minutes.
It was by no means an easy encounter for Sindhu, who looked below par, but showed great character to comeback from one game down to beat Okuhara.
Sindhu did not start as she would have liked in the opening game. She looked rusty and things were not working for the Indian player, who was also being outplayed by the Japanese. Okuhara, who is a quality player, looked in complete control and demolished Sindhu 21-10 to go 1-0 up. The first game was something, which Sindhu would like to erase from her memory as it was not the usual Sindhu on the court.
Hence, there was a serious need for Sindhu to get her A game going in order to stay in the match by winning the second game, and take the opening round match to the decider.
The India Open champion found her range and looked much better in the second game. There was an air of confidence as she was drilling her favourite smashes to effect, which eventually helped her win the game, 21-15.
Sindhu carried that second game form into the third and started brightly. She had got her mojo back, taking a 5-1 lead. But, the Japanese was also coming up with some great badminton in the third game as Okuhara clawed back to make it 7-8.
It was a cat and mouse game in the third game of the first round encounter, and Sindhu stretched the lead to three points going into the final break, 11-8. Sindhu looked better as the match progressed and came into her own in the deciding game, helping her win the contest and book her second round berth too despite Okuhara's late attempt at stealing a win.
