Madrid Spain Masters 2023: PV Sindhu suffers lopsided defeat in final to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung

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Madrid, April 2: India's PV Sindhu suffered a straight games loss to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women's singles final in the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur on Sunday (April 2).

The 2022 Commonwealth Games champion looked listless as the fifth-seeded Indonesian, who had never beaten her Indian counterpart in previous 6 attempts, eased to a 21-8, 21-8 in the summit clash that lasted for just 29 minutes.

In the opening game, Sindhu, who was trailing 1-5 reduced the lead to 4-5, but the Indonesian Mariska Tunjung won points at ease to head into the interval at 11-6. Tunjung raced to a 17-7 lead once the game resumed and took the first essay 21-8 in 11 minutes.

The second game also started in similar fashion, but this time the Indonesia took a commanding 11-3 lead into the interval. The Indonesian continued her dominance once the game resumed to clinch the game and the championship 21-8 in 15 minutes.

This was Sindhu's first final of the year, having suffered early exits in previous tournaments on the BWF Tour, including the All England Open Badminton Championships and the Swiss Open in March.

The former World Champion Sindhu had booked her final berth after hard-fought straight games win against Singapore's Yeo Jia Min. Second-seeded Sindhu defeated the unseeded Singaporean 24-22, 22-20 in the semi-final that lasted for 48 minutes.

In the earlier rounds, the two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu eased past Switzerland's Jenjira Sadelmann (21-10, 21-14), Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia (21-14, 21-16) and Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark (21-14, 21-17) in straight games.