Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Sunday produced her best performance of the season but failed to claim her maiden BWF Super 1000 title after losing to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women's singles final of the 2019 Indonesia Open at Jakarta.
In a promising title match which lasted 51 minutes, Sindhu conceded a 0-3 lead to her rival, then won five straight points. The rivals then engaged in a topsy-turvy tussle, before
Sindhu took a three-point lead at 11-8 in 12 minutes.
Then, she lost her momentum to concede the first game, 21-15.
The second game started in a similar fashion but with Yamaguchi maintaining her grip in the match. The Japanese girl won the game, 21-16, to hand Sindhu a straight-game defeat.
Earlier in the day, in an all-Japanese affair, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota defeated Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi to claim the women's doubles final.
Indonesia Open is the second Super 1000 tournament of the season, after All England Open, where Sindhu failed the move past the first round, Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea in three games 16-21, 22-20, 18-21.
Super 1000, previously known as the Super Series Premier, is the Level 2 of yearly tournaments organised by the sport's world governing body Badminton World Federation. China Open later in the year will complete season's trio Super 1000 tournaments.
Sindhu also competed in the level 3 (Super 750), Malaysia Open in April, but lost to Ji-hyun in the second round in straight games 18-21, 7-21.
For the uninitiated, there are six levels of tournaments, with one event in Level 1 – the signature, season finale World Tour Finals. Level 2 has three, five in level 3 and seven in level 4, which includes the India Open, and 12 in level 5.
