Is breaking An Se-young’s zonal-defense, the silver bullet for PV Sindhu?

It would be foolhardy to think that Sindhu is getting closer to beating Se-young, or that there’s a serious resurgence, vis-a-vis winning titles, even as she enters Top 10 again. But with Indonesian Irwansyah arming her with necessary tools, Sindhu has a blueprint to push the Korean.

The 21-17 first set scoreline can be broken down into phases – the good, the (good sort of) ugly and the rank bad, where Sindhu couldn’t push for a win.

It’s the early part – 7-11 that held pointers for a future plotting which ranks as good, the 13-14 to 16-18 part that is ugly but on a good way, and then the implosion to 17-21 where Sindhu was far from good enough, and unraveled that counts as the bad or poor phase. The second set loss was inevitable thereafter.

World No.1 An Se Young 🇰🇷 competes against Pusarla V. Sindhu 🇮🇳.#BWFWorldTour #SingaporeOpen2026 pic.twitter.com/P8cqpOP4ev

— BWF (@bwfmedia) May 29, 2026

The smart ploy involves breaking down Se-young’s zone defense. It’s unclear if it’s a hangover of a past injury or more likely, Sindhu really acing the precision attack, but the Indian targeted a particular zone through the first set: Se-young’s backhand sideline. The Korean was reluctant to go across her body and pick the flank shots. Were the badminton half-court to be divided into four corner rectangles, it was the rear backhand block where Sindhu wreaked maximum damage.

Till 17-19, Sindhu had 7 down the line straight smashes to that zone, all unretrieved smashes, all winners. These came from stick smashes and even round the head straights, that Sindhu’s tall power enable. What’s more, three other crosscourts were also pinged to the same zone, which would require Se-young to play the torso-contorting imbalanced backhand — the reluctance for which saw the Korean World No 1 bleed nearly 60 percent of her points. A flick after a fast exchange and a cross hit after a 40+ shot rally, both flashed on the same zonal radar, making it 11 of her 17 points scored breaking Se-young’s renowned defense.

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There’s myriad ways to beat Sindhu, and Se-young used the simplest ones. Making her twist and turn on both flanks, testing her reduced agility. And with Korean coaches continually telling her to keep the shuttle down, and make the tall Sindhu bend.

But at 17-19, Sindhu gave yet another display of why she has slipped from the top bracket, where merely making Top 10 becomes cause for celebration for someone who’s played 3 World Championships finals. It could’ve been 18-19 – and then, who knows? – had Sindhu sent the easiest of cutaway smashes within lines, because once again, it was in that zone and Se-young was on the other side of the court. But Sindhu sprayed it wide. 17-20.

Post that it was clear lack of belief as she sent a clear loose and long, when precision was demanded.

Having beaten World No 5 Putri Kusuma Wardini, if Sindhu reckoned the job was done for this week, then the ambition needs levelling up. The second set started 0-6, stuttered to 7-11 and was finished 14-21, with no sign of a fightback.

An Se-young offers very few chances. And Sindhu might be one of the few contemporary players who can use her power, speed and general drive to prove a point, to get that ASY-win. Irwansyah was on point when he said Se-young would have to be beaten at some point to win a title. There was no way around it. At age 30 with her fitness, that is likelier to happen early in a tournament – in first 3 days – than in semis or finals.

It’s why Sindhu should look forward to playing An Se-young early in the week, for she has the means to set fire to one quarter zone of Se-young’s defensive reach. Though her endgame lacks belief and finishing is shoddy, Sindhu has the power game to annoy the Korean.