Thailand Open 2018: PV Sindhu's patchy form a sign of worry as Japan's fit-again Nozomi Okuhara awaits in final

There was plenty of cheer for Japan and Indonesia to take away from Saturday’s semi-finals of the Thailand Open badminton championships, but there were creases of worry on the brows of Indian supporters as their sole surviving hope in the $375,000 World Tour tournament struggled to get past a new talented kid on the block.

In what has been a competition sadly depleted by a spate of last-minute withdrawals and a flood of shock results, Japan managed to place five sets of finalists and had two more on the losing end out of the 20 final aspirants in five events. Indonesia ended up with two finalists, but had another two who had to leave the courts as narrow losers, including one 34-year-old veteran who appears to have got a second wind on what was a faltering career.

A small contingent of Indian badminton fans, lodged in the upper tiers of the Nimibutr (National) Stadium in central Bangkok, had their hearts in their mouths as second-seeded PV Sindhu struggled with the length of her shots in the deciding game of her semi-final against Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, and barely had her nose in front at 8-7 as the changeover of ends approached.

Fortunately, after going into the mid-game break with a 11-7 advantage, Sindhu was better able to control her strokes against the nasty drift from the side where she had lost the second game, and accelerated away to a hard-earned, hour-long 23-21, 16-21, 21-9 victory over the 18-year-old Indonesian upstart, already being hailed by many to be one of the most talented players in the world, and a worthy successor to the legendary Susi Susanti in the new millennium.

It was a typically inconsistent display from Sindhu on Saturday. Although seeming to have a clear edge in power and reach over an opponent who had won the World Junior Championship last year at Yogyakarta in her home nation, the 23-year-old Indian kept making unforced errors and also being deceived by some sparkling strokeplay from the fleet-footed Indonesian teenager.

Sindhu was fortunate to wrest the first game after Tunjung stood at game-point 20-19, but lacked the experience to force the issue. The Indian fell into a prodigal frame of mind after level pegging until 9-all in the second, and kept either netting or over-hitting the shuttle. It was only her vastly greater experience that spoke up for her in the decider, as the Bandung (Java) native finally cracked under the pressure of playing her first semi-final at this level, in conditions that were inimical to controlled strokeplay.

It was not the ideal preparation for Sunday’s final, which will be a repeat of the 2017 World Championship final, in which Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara had edged out Sindhu by a 22-20 margin in the deciding game of a long-drawn final that is still considered a modern classic for the numerous twists and turns it took, and the demands it made on the temperament and staying power of the two antagonists.

Okuhara made the summit clash with a facile 21-17, 21-10 triumph over American Zhang Beiwen, who had edged out top-seeded World No 2, Akane Yamaguchi, in the quarter-final the previous day. Zhang appeared stiff and stale after her Homeric 14-21, 21-19, 21-19 victory over Yamaguchi, and challenged briefly in the opening game before progressively fading away in the face of a steady stream of accurate returns from her pint-sized rival.

Sindhu and Okuhara share a 5-5 head-to-head record, and seem to have decided to alternate victories since the 2017 Singapore Open, in which the Indian had scored a last-gasp 22-20 win over the tiny Japanese. Okuhara had taken revenge by an identical third-game scoreline, in that unforgettable 21-19, 20-22, 22-20 World Championship final in Glasgow between two talented 22-year-olds.

Thereafter, Sindhu won another tough three-gamer in the Korea Open by a 21-18 third-game score, but then capitulated meekly by an 18-21, 8-21 margin in Okuhara’s home tournament, the Japan Open, in mid-September. Their clash at this year’s All England championships was yet another edge-of-the-seat cliff-hanger, with Sindhu staging a rearguard action and coming through at 20-22, 21-18, 21-18.

If this pattern of alternate wins and losses continues, then Okuhara is scheduled on Sunday to go 6-5 ahead in their rivalry. Current form seems to suggest that the Japanese ace has got over the injury woes that cut short her 2017 season at the latter stages of the Japan Open. The confident manner in which she handled Zhang’s steady all-court game revealed that the World No 8 is more than ready to take advantage of Sindhu’s current patchy form.

Meanwhile, Japan had much to exult over, when their latest Thomas Cupper, Kanta Tsuneyama, held on by the skin of his teeth to pip Indonesia’s resurgent old-timer, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, at 21-13, 14-21, 23-21, saving a match-point at 20-21 in the decider. Kuncoro, after spending several years on the sidelines with a chronic back injury, now looks at somewhere near the level he was playing at, when he had tested the legendary Lin Dan in the 2007 World Championship final in Jakarta.

Tsuneyama will vie for the Thailand Open title with another Indonesian, Tommy Sugiarto, who had too much class for the host nation’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon, and won handily at 21-15, 21-12 in a mere 39 minutes. The 30-year-old former World Championship bronze medallist has climbed up to 15th in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, has never played the 33rd ranked Tsuneyama earlier, but will be strongly favoured to edge the Japanese 22-year-old in the summit clash on Sunday.