P V Sindhu’s hopes of breaking a seven-month title drought came crashing down as the Indian lost in straight games to Akane Yamaguchi in the finals of Indonesia Open BWF Tour Super 1000 tournament here Sunday.
Seven months after becoming the first Indian to win theseason-ending BWF World Tour Finals in December, Olympic silver medallistSindhu had an opportunity to finally lay her hands on another crown only tosquander, losing 15-21 16-21 to the Japanese in a lop-sided summit clash thatlasted 51 minutes here.
This was Sindhu’s fifth loss to Yamaguchi in 15 meetings.The last time the Indian lost to the Japanese was at the semifinals of the AllEngland Championship last year.
The defeat added to Sindhu’s list of runners-up finishes,which include silvers at the World Championships, Asian Games, CommonwealthGames, Thailand Open and India Open last year.It was Yamaguchi’s third title of the seasonafter claiming crowns at German Open and Asian Championship.