Signing you in

“Winning that first game mattered,” Sindhu would tell BWF at Tokyo, where her belligerence drove Yufei, World No 4, out of the contest before injury troubles saw hee unfortunate retirement.

Leading 11-7, Sindhu had set herself a good base. The early lead came from straight attacking smashes to Yufei’s far forehand corner as Sindhu charged forward – the hits controlled impeccably by the Indian World No 10.

The Chinese did well to return from 11-16 down to level at 19-19. Sindhu had won a 51-shot rally for 18-16, but Yufei toggled Sindhu back and front and sent the shuttle to the backcourt, trying to flip the momentum. She reached 19-19, but a skilled racquet-face turning drop to the forecourt gave Sindhu the set point.

The 31-year-old has the set-up smashes, but she has the original no-holds-barred smash too, an unreturnable one, she targeted at Yufei’s hand and shoulder, with wind-cutting speed to take the opener 21-19.

Chen Yufei said Sindhu didn’t make it easy for her. The Indian told BWF, “I was very focused because I was leading in the first game and she came quite close so it was important you stay focused. Sometimes you are leading and you give away points and you get suddenly disheartened thinking why are these points going when I was leading. Lot of emotions go on, in your head. But my coach said it’s OK, doesn’t matter. Just focus on next point. That really helped.”

Sindhu takes on Akane Yamaguchi in the final, in what will be their 30th match. The rivalry couldn’t be more keen – Sindhu has 15 wins, Yamaguchi 14. However, her last proper happy win over the Japanese home favorite, came four years ago in May 2022. Yamaguchi retired a set down earlier at Malaysia this year, but has won 7 of the last 10 completed matches. There’s needle there in the faceoff, offering an interesting clash in front of the Japanese crowd as Sindhu plays her first final at Tokyo.

Yamaguchi came back from 9-16 down in the quarters decider against Kim Ga Eun, while Sindhu has benefitted from two retirements to earn rest. Not that Yufei was easy in 44 minutes.

Against Yufei, it was scorching play, start to end for Sindhu, whose enduring and improving fitness has seen her capable of deploying speed-bombs that explode on opponents. The Chinese was first rattled, then razed down, before she resigned unable to put up with Sindhu’s steady stream of attack, enabled by her hand speed. The Sindhu hand speed is a marvel at play — at 31, she can consistently hit 3-4 shots from full vertical stretch. What brought the Chinese down was her own decision to poke and play flat exchanges quickly feeding that windmill hand speed – copping a defeat against Sindhu after 7 years.

Sindhu was always in command in the duel, as she used her drops from the back court to lethal effect. Coach Irwansyah has convinced her that even her biggest weapon, the smash, can be used as a set-up for the eventual winner, a net drop. The smash pinned Yufei to the back court, hesitant to come up front, fearful of the next blazing deep smash. The Chinese could defend the smashes, but it was the quick summoning to the front court to respond to Sindhu drops that took Yufei apart. And eventually, aggravated the hamstring as she was yo-yoed front and back.

Yufei was broken by that first set reversal, and started 0-3 down in the second. She got to within 7-8 but could never snatch the lead in the second. Struggling to move, and forced to do that exactly by Sindhu, the Chinese fell back and eventually retired clutching her leg.

“Even in second set there were long rallies like the long rally (51 shot) which was quite important for me to get that point. In second I was focused from start because even if I had 2 point lead, she was coming from behind,” Sindhu said.

Sindhu thus broke a 5-match losing streak against the Chinese, dating back to 2019 when she last beat her 21-7, 21-14 on way to her World Championship at Basel in 2019. It is mind boggling that Sindhu’s fitness can reach same blazing standards, even while Yufei, 28, has struggled to nail down the World title, seven years later.