Why PV Sindhu tends to lose to Akane Yamaguchi

There’s no needle in the 13-15 rivalry because Yamaguchi is incapable of tiffing with opponents, and lives in her own world. But what’s not changed through the battles dating back to September of 2013, is how the two win against each other: Sindhu with power and steep smashing from her 5’11” vantage, Yamaguchi with the widest variety of strokes to move Sindhu around, and frustrate her by picking everything despite her compact 5’1″ frame.

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As India’s second string of Isharani Baruah, Unnati Hooda and Devika Sihag watched the two go toe to toe from the stands at Patumwan in Bangkok, the match was instructive for how height can be leveraged for someone like Sihag, and how height can be humbled for the likes of Hooda, now a Top 20 and Isharani – who has grown up keeping Yamaguchi as the idol.

At Thailand Open Super 500 on Friday, with Sindhu on a roll and moving well on court, the Indian had tweaked the script a tad — she was using the net brilliantly and with aggression, even as her big power game gave her the decisive crunch points in set 1 after the two went 19-19 till the very end. What gave Sindhu the opener was Yamaguchi hashing a smash to an open court, going for the lines, fearing Sindhu’s reach.

The Indian, seeded 6th, would’ve sniffed an upset against the top seed here when she led 11-7 comfortably in second. It’s here that Yamaguchi who had been smothered till then by a fleet footed Sindhu’s aggression from front court, changed track.

Sindhu could deploy her biggest weapon – the searing, expansive smash only if she got the short length on the shuttle through Yamaguchi lifts. Body attacks were the Indian’s best way to get those evasive floaters and then stub them down. It’s what changed when Yamaguchi went from 7-11 to 14-11 in the second, a rally that effectively led to the 21-19, 18-21, 15-21 loss. The Japanese caught Sindhu on the midcourt, with flat parallels as the shuttle went to the Indian’s shoulder length, making returns awkward.

Sindhu’s defense and court awareness, anticipation have been reasonably sharp on the low dipping shuttles – it’s why Yamaguchi erred going to the backline in the first. But that midcourt flat, fast exchange needs agility — Sindhu could pick three of those 10 shots coming into her body, but the Japanese had neutralized her height and reach advantage with the doubles staple – a hittable push for someone at 153 cms to put a 179 in a mighty bind.

Sindhu wasn’t deterred, she fought on. But for the duration of the next 50 points played, Yamaguchi ran with the lead, not once letting Sindhu get ahead. From 17-13 up, Yamaguchi worked the shuttle around, jammed Sindhu at midcourt, and flicked off a 18-17 challenge with cool conviction in her gameplan.

A 5-0 lead for Yamaguchi wasn’t catastrophic for Sindhu who kept pecking at the score with some impressive net battles. One could say she had the upper hand at the net even around 12-13. But the Japanese calmly took the next 3 points even though the rallies were prolonged. And Sindhu finally flatlined, 15-17 down, as she couldn’t reverse the midcourt momentum.

It was a chance to re-enter Top 10, but Sindhu will move to Malaysia Masters and renew her challenge once again.