Fighting Sindhu loses to nemesis An Se Young to sign off with runner-up finish

PARIS: India's PV Sindhu put up a spirited fight before going down to world No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea in three games to finish runner-up at the USD 950,000 French Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Indian lost 21-16, 11-21, 12-21 to the Olympic champion, who clinched her fourth French Open title and 11th crown of the season.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, started strongly and used her reach and attacking strokes to take the opening game in 20 minutes. It was only the second time in her career that she had managed to take a game off the Korean, whom she has never beaten in 11 meetings so far.

There were a lot of net battles as the two engaged in exciting rallies to move from 4-4 to 7-7 at one stage. During one such exchange, An pounced on a shuttle and sent it away, only to hit Sindhu on the face.

Sindhu took a two-point lead at the break with an overhead cross-court smash. She used her reach to good effect and soon moved to 15-11, with An making judgement errors at the backline.

A lift going long and a smash into the net from Sindhu helped An cut the deficit to 13-15. Sindhu smashed into the net again before An made another judgement error at the sideline. The Korean sent one long as Sindhu zoomed to 19-14.

The Indian grabbed six game points with a disguised slice. A deceptive drop and an angled cross-court return helped An save two game points before she sent one long again, allowing Sindhu to clinch the opening game in 20 minutes. It was only the second time she had taken a game from the Korean.

After the change of sides, An moved to a 3-0 lead. A cross-court smash helped Sindhu make it 2-4 before An found the net. A body smash kept Sindhu at 4-5, but a brilliant touch at the net saw An move to 7-5 before she sprayed a shot wide, bothered by the sideways drift.

A perfect net shot at 7-6 and a superb 30-shot rally helped An maintain her two-point lead. Two superb smashes then gave the Korean a four-point advantage at the break.

An extended her lead to 13-7 as Sindhu tried to keep her net game tight. A slew of errors followed, with nine of the next 10 points going to An as she moved to 17-8.

The Korean pocketed 12 game points. Sindhu saved three before An converted to level the match.

The two played some exciting rallies in the decider. Sindhu had to contend with not only An's shot quality but also the side drift. A 36-shot rally ended with Sindhu going wide, but the Indian kept fighting and quickly established a three-point lead at 8-5.

The world No. 1 soon caught up at 8-8 with a smash. An moved ahead at 9-8 after pouncing at the net, almost repeating the shot she had played against Sindhu in the first game. A body smash and another shot away from Sindhu's backhand gave the Korean a two-point lead at the interval.

An, who had won six of the last seven points in the first half of the decider, continued the momentum to reach 13-9. With Sindhu going long, it became 14-9, and the Korean continued to stamp her authority to move to 15-9.

The quality of An's game only improved as she extended her lead to 18-10. Another long shot gave the Korean eight match points, and she sealed the title at the first opportunity.