Macau: India’s P.V Sindhu put a magnificent finishing touch to her 2015 season by beating Japanese Minatsu Mitani 21-9, 21-23, 21-14 to win her third consecutive Macau Open title on Sunday.
No. 5 seed Sindhu unleashed a storm against the No. 6 seed Mitani at the start of the match as she rode on the errors of Mitani to reach 11-5 at the break. Mitani fought back with aggressive rally but failed to cut down her errors to allow Sindhu to lead at 17-6. Sindhu then played with strong smashes and accurate drops to seal the first set 21-9.
Both Sindhu and Mitani went toe-to-toe in the second set with the tug-of-war when both players managed to level up the scores 12 times throughout the game. Sindhu was on the brink of straight sets victory when she was leading at 20-19, but Mitani finally found the rhythm and took the second set with score of 23-21.
Sindhu was in total control against Mitani in the decider. The Indian underlined her complete dominance of women’s badminton with another immaculate display to establish a big lead at 9-3 and then 11-7 before the interval. After the interval, Sindhu collected six of the next eight points before Mitani pocketed a point with a superb net play. Mitani then made a wrong line call while Sindhu got one right to move into the match point at 20-11. The Japanese saved three match points but a composed Sindhu didn’t panic and waited for Mitani’s error and she soon sent the shuttle wide again to help Sindhu completed the hat-trick at the USD 120,000 Macau Open.
Shin Baek Cheol made it a doubles celebration for Korea as he and Chae Yoo Jung beat compatriots Choi Solgyu/Eom Hye Won 21-18, 21-13 to win the mixed doubles title. Shin then added to Korean celebrations on Sunday as he partnered Ko Sung Hyun to claim the men’s doubles title, sending Indonesians Berry Angriawan/Ryan Agung Saputra packing 22-20, 21-14 to secure the men’s doubles trophy.
The celebration continued for the Korean team as No. 13 seed Jeon Hyuk-jin fought back from a set down to overcome No. 2 seed Tian Houwei of China 21-11, 13-21, 23-21 to lift the men’s title.
Korean women’s doubles pair Jung Kyung Eun/ Shin Seung Chan was handed a lucky victory after they lost their first set to Poon Lok Yan/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong 18-21. However, the Hong Kong pair was forced to retire from the match after one of the Hong Kong player suffered an injury when the game was tied at 15-15.
