BWF World Tour 2019, Day 1 Results: PV Sindhu begins campaign with a loss against Yamaguchi

Top Indian female shuttler PV Sindhu began the year-end BWF World Tour 2019 with a defeat against Akane Yamaguchi. It was Sindhu's third straight loss against the Japanese as she lost 21-18, 18-21, 8-21. The Indian went down in an hour and eight minutes after giving a tough fight.

The poor form for the reigning World Champion continued in China after a hiatus from badminton for almost a month. Having entered the match with a 10-6 win/loss record against Yamaguchi, Sindhu seemed in control as she took the first set after a slow start. The second set saw Sindhu picking up an 11-6 lead before Yamaguchi crawled back her way to level the scores 15-15. The Japanese player took a 19-18 lead, and pocketed two quick points to take the game into the third set.

Yamaguchi did not give a chance to the Sindhu as she went on to rake back to back points in the third set. Sindhu, however, tried to break her opponent's rhythm but Yamaguchi had taken a huge lead of 11-3. She seemed unstoppable with a 16-4 lead, and won the third set in under 20 minutes to win the game. This was Yamaguchi's third win over the Indian this year and 7th overall.

Sindhu will now face the world number one Chen Yufei on Thursday, 12th December in her second Group A match. Sindhu enjoys a 6-3 record over the Chinese. Their two encounters earlier this year saw Sindhu winning both the matches in straight sets. It will not be wrong to say that Sindhu would very well come out as a winner after her second match ends.

Yu Fei won her first match against He Bingjiao 21-9, 21-18. World number one men's singles player Kento Momota also won his first match against Wang Tzu-Wei 21-10, 21-9.

Here are the full results from the day one of the year ending championships:

BWF World Tour Finals Results 2019

Men's Singles

Group A

Kento Momota vs Taipei Wang Tzu-Wei: 21–10, 21–9

Jonatan Christie vs Anders Antonsen: 23–21, 21–16

Group B

Chen Long China 2–1 Denmark Viktor Axelsen: 21–17, 10–21, 21–17

Chou Tien-Chen vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting: 11–21, 21–15, 25–23

Women's Singles

Group A

Chen Yufei vs He Bingjiao: 21–9, 21–18

Akane Yamaguchi vs P. V. Sindhu: 18–21, 21–18, 21–8

Group B

Ratchanok Intanon vs Busanan Ongbamrungphan: 21–4, 21–16

Nozomi Okuhara vs Tai Tzu-ying:15–21, 21–18, 21–19

Men's Doubles

Group A

Takeshi Kamura / Keigo Sonoda vs Hiroyuki Endo / Yuta Watanabe: 19–21, 13–21

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sukamuljo vs Li Junhui / Liu Yuchen: 21–18, 14–21, 21–18

Group B

Lee Yang / Wang Chi-lin vs Lu Ching-Yao / Yang Po-Han 21–16 21–12

Mohammad Ahsan \ Hendra Setiawan vs Aaron Chia / Soh Wooi Yik: 21–19, 21–16

Women's Doubles

Group A

Chen Qingchen / Yifan Jia vs Du Yue Dhina Li Yinhui: 21–12, 16–21, 21–16

Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota vs Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu: 19–21, 21–5, 21–9

Group B

Kim So-Yeong / Kong Hee-Yong vs Lee So-hee / Shin Seung-chan: 21–18, 17–21, 18–21

Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara vs Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai: 19–21, 21–14, 22–20

Mixed Doubles

Group A

Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai vs Seo Seung-Jae/Chae Yoo-Jung: 21–16, 21–19

Wang Yilü / Huang Dongping vs Chan Peng Soon / Goh Liu Ying: 21–11, 21–14

Group B

Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti vs Hafiz Faizal /Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja: 11–21, 19–21

Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong vs Yuta Watanabe / Arisa Higashino: 15–21, 15–21