BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu settles for silver after defeat to An Seyoung in finals

Bali, December 5: World Champion and Indian ace shuttler PV Sindhu on Sunday (December 5) lost to South Korea's An Seyoung in the women's singles final of the BWF World Tour Finals in Bali, Indonesia.

The 26-year-old Indian was no match to the teenager Seyoung, who sealed the title in straight games 21-16, 21-12 in the summit clash that lasted for just 39 minutes.

The South Korea shuttler came out all guns blazing in the first game and started with a 4-0 lead, but Sindhu was able to raise her game, and the first game was locked at 7-4 in favour of Seyoung after the opening four minutes of the game.

The 19-year-old Seyoung raised her level to seal the opening game 21-16, and Sindhu proved no match for her in the first game, and the South Korean was just one more game away from victory.

Seyoung charged on with her momentum, and in the end claimed the second game 21-12 to defeat the two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu in straight games to win the tournament.

Seyoung had come into the season-ending tournament with back-to-back titles in the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open and had also beaten Sindhu in the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open in October.

Meanwhile, this was Sindhu's third final appearance in the tournament. She had won the title in 2018 to become the only Indian to achieve the feat and finished runner up in 2017.

The duo, who played the World Tour Finals, will be next seen in action at the World Championships, scheduled for December 12-19 in Bali.

On Saturday (December 4), Sindhu had battled past Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to reach the final, while Seyoung defeated number 1 seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.

In the semifinals, Sindhu defeated Yamaguchi 21-15, 15-21, 21-19 in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Seyoung beat the Thai Chochuwong in straight games 25-23, 21-17 in a match that lasted just under an hour.

(With inputs from Agencies)