Jakarta, July 21: Star Indian shuttler P V Sindhu settled for a runner-up finish at the Indonesia Open after losing the title clash in straight games to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in Jakarta on Sunday (July 21).
Sindhu lost the final of the BWF Tour Super 1000 tournament 15-21 16-21 to the fourth seed Yamaguchi.
The Olympic silver medallist had come into the contest with a favourable 10-4 head-to-head record against the Japanese.
The first game was a close affair with the two players going toe to toe for much of it. After 8-8, however, it was the Hyderabadi shuttler who took three consecutive and went into the interval with an 11-8 lead.
Yamaguchi, however, fought back to bring the scores level at 14-14 and went on the offensive again to race to an 18-14 lead. The fourth seed eventually added nine straight points to win the game 21-15 in 21 minutes.
Tough Luck Champ!👍
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 21, 2019
Despite sparks of brilliance, it wasn't #PVSindhu's day, The top 🇮🇳shuttler went down 21-15; 21-16 in the finals to @AKAne_GUcchi66. Well played, Akane. #IndiaontheRise#badminton pic.twitter.com/24nD6wsNpW
The Japanese never took her foot off the pedal after that and the second game was a much more one-sided affair. And a fighting Sindhu was second best for much of the game and lost 21-16 in another 31 minutes.
Nevertheless, it was season's best performance for the world number five Indian, who had reached the semifinals at Singapore and India Open earlier.
She will next be seen in action at the Japan Open later this month and the Thailand Open in August in the lead up to the BWF World Championships.
(With inputs from PTI and Agencies)