Sindhu trumps Gilmour for second Malaysia title

Without breaking a sweat, the third-seeded Indian wrapped up proceedings in 32 minutes. It has to be rated as one of her most clinical performances over the years, even though she was up against an unseeded opponent. Gilmour was pushed into attempting numerous forced errors due to quality serves and picks from the Indian shuttler, which in the end turned out to be the difference in the result.

Sindhu, with good court coverage, began by taking an early 5-2 advantage and stretched it to 10-6. Her smashes were connecting well, catching the Scottish off-guard. There were a host of improvements in Sindhu’s net game and placements, and it was evident in the way she adjusted her drop shots. Even though the Gilmour got the odd points, it was mainly the Indian, who kept on stretching the lead throughout the first game. After a couple of lose points, the equation read 18-14 before Sindhu won the final three points to wind the first game 21-15. 

One would have expected Gilmour to come out better in the second game due to the fact that she had beaten two seeded opponents in her previous two games. Initially, she was able to maintain some momentum when the scored read 5-4. That however, did not last long and Sindhu simply overwhelmed her there onwards. Sindhu then extended the gap from 11-6 to 197. From that point onwards, only one outcome seemed possible: A Sindhu win.