Competition: BWF Metlife Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries 2017
Venue: Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi
Category: Superseries
Date: Sunday, April 2, 2017
Round: Final
Time: (3) PV Sindhu vs (1) Carolina Marin at around 5.30 PM IST
Channel: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2
Live streaming: Star Sports Hotstar
Preview
(3) PV Sindhu (BWF World Rank: 5) vs (1) Carolina Marin (BWF World Rank: 3)
Head-to-head: Marin leads 5-3
Last meeting: Sindhu beat Marin 21-17, 21-13 at the Dubai World Superseries Finals in December, 2016
Seven months after playing the Olympic women’s singles final that turned out to be a classic, Spain’s Carolina Marin and India’s very own PV Sindhu are meeting once again in a final. But this time they are more evenly matched than that particular showdown. They have both dropped just one game en route to this mouthwatering summit clash in the Indian Open.
Perhaps Sindhu even has a slight edge with her playing in front of her home crowd. Performance and consistency-wise too, the Indian has done much better than the Spanish southpaw in the past few months.
The 21-year-old’s confidence level was boosted by miles after her Rio Olympic silver medal win and she hasn’t looked back ever since. Her exploits included the China Open Superseries Premier and the Syed Modi International titles, besides reaching the Hong Kong Open final as well as the semi-finals of the World Superseries Finals.
Also Read: "Looking to use home crowd to my advantage," says PV Sindhu ahead of final versus Carolina Marin
The Hyderabad shuttler’s defense has improved tremendously, her game has become well-rounded and she has a lot more conviction in her abilities now which have helped her break into the top 5.
All that was very much evident in her straight-games dismantling of former champion Saina Nehwal in the quarter-finals where she trailed for the majority of the second game.
Marin, in contrast, hasn’t won a title since her Olympic glory. Niggling injuries have prevented her from being at her best, resulting in her reaching just a solitary final out of six tournaments. The Spaniard faced Sindhu at the World Superseries Finals in December where she was a pale shadow of the aggressive, determined Marin that she is known to be.
The former World No. 1 succumbed to a straight-games defeat allowing the Indian to advance to the last-four stage of that elite event for the first time.
Three months on, the two-time world champion is finally beginning to look more of her usual self as she aims for her maiden India Open title – one of the few crowns still missing in her illustrious resume. But with Sindhu looking assured of herself and with the crowd firmly rooted behind her, will that at all be possible?
