Sindhu took the fight back on Saturday, winning 24-22, 22-20. Sindhu’s formidable shoulders didn’t droop when faced with 7 set points in the opener, perhaps relieved of the pressure of their reputations having slipped oh-so-briefly out of the Top Ten.
Instead, she stomped and stamped her big power game on Yeo, ready for a fight, and rode on the luck she’d created for herself with those unstoppable strides.
There is no surer sign of Sindhu’s form than when she strikes the shuttle high and smashes straight at the opponent. Both checkboxes were prominently filled out. Attacking cannot be Sindhu’s fallback option; it must be the core of her game, and while the World No. 33 opponent was not particularly formidable, it was in the aggressive intent that Sindhu outmanoeuvred the hard-working Singaporean.
Yeo has a reliable smash as well as her own cross hit. And she fought for points and traded winners on Sindhu’s backhand and forecourt lunge throughout the first set.
The Indian was raining down straight smashes to pin her back, but Yeo had a couple of hit variations from midcourt and didn’t let the Indian smother her. As Sindhu remained firm and piled on the pressure, the errors piled up around her.
Sindhu would dive in vain at the end of the longest rally, allowing Yeo to go up 21-20. Sindhu responded with a round-the-head drop shot, which negated the seventh set point. In the end, Sindhu made herself ineligible for the opener simply by refusing to give up.
