Competition: OUE Singapore Open Superseries 2017Venue: Singapore Indoor StadiumCategory: SuperseriesDate: Friday, April 14, 2017Round: Quarter-finalsTime: (5) PV Sindhu vs (4) Carolina Marin at around 4.30pm Channel: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2Live streaming: Star Sports Hotstar
Preview
(5) PV Sindhu (BWF Rank: 5 ) vs (4) Carolina Marin (BWF Rank: 2)
Head-to-head: Marin leads 5-4
Last meeting: Sindhu beat Marin 21-19, 21-16 in the India Open final on April 2, 2017
Less than two weeks after meeting at the India Open final, PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin are crossing swords yet again at the Singapore Open although this time they will clash two rounds earlier. Sindhu did not falter throughout the entirety of the India Open and in the final, she was in impeccable form to which the Spaniard had no answer.
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It was Sindhu’s second consecutive victory over the two-time world champion after their enthralling Rio Olympic final which Marin won in three games.
But it needs to be remembered that the southpaw was dealing with a few niggling injuries since the Olympics and was never at her full fitness. It is only this year that she has admitted to having overcome her injuries and is enjoying herself on the court again.
That was evident from the way she fought against the current World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying at the Malaysia Open final last Sunday before going down 25-23, 20-22, 13-21.
At the ongoing Singapore Open, she had a tough opener against Thai youngster Pornpawee Chochuwong but was presented with a far more comfortable outing in the second round.
In contrast, Sindhu has had a bit of a struggle since winning the India Open. Despite being two points away from the win, she crashed to a shock opening round defeat at the Malaysia Open. This week, she had to win both her matches at the Singapore Open in three games.
Even though her opening round win over the 2016 All England Championships winner Nozomi Okuhara was a confidence boosting one, she did allow the Japanese to save four match points before she could finally close out the win.
A repeat of that won’t bode well for the Pullela Gopichand protege against Marin especially with the World No. 2 showing flashes of the brilliance that took her to the Olympic gold.
There’s no doubt that an exciting battle is on the cards, one that looks to be far more competitive than their last showdown.
Schedule for the rest of the Indian contingent:
Men's singles
B Sai Praneeth vs (8) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk at around 1pm
Srikanth Kidambi vs (5) Shi Yuqi at around 5pm
Mixed doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa/Sumeeth Reddy vs (3) Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong at around 1.45pm
(All timings in Indian Standard Time)
