The Hong Kong Open final between PV Sindhu and Tai Tzu Ying began with the Indian mishitting her first stroke; a simple return botched with the shuttle bouncing in front of her. Caught off-guard by the error, Sindhu raised her eyebrows and shook her head. It was going to be that sort of a day.

Over the next 44 minutes, Tai Tzu made Sindhu chase the game, on the scoreboard (the Indian could only open a 2-point advantage at 11-9 in the second game) and on the court with her wide repertoire of deceptive strokes. With the 21-18, 21-18 win, the Taiwanese player completed a redux of last year’s final — the triumph in Hong Kong which kicked off her year-long reign as world No. 1during which she has collected five Superseries titles. For Sindhu, Sunday’s loss was the second loss in the four finals she has reached this season. She had lost to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara at the World Championship final, while clinched two titles at India and Korea this year.

While she has handled the opponents who try to force past her with relative ease, Sindhu has a sketchy record against the ones with guile and an unorthodox game. Her clinical win over Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the semifinal however raised hopes that Sindhu will overturn the 3-7 head-to-head record against Tai Tzu. And she nearly delivered too, despite struggles with strings, drift and referrals.

In the opening game which lasted 21 minutes, Tai Tzu moved to a 3-0 lead early on before Sindhu made a good judgement at the baseline to log the first points. The 5’3″ Tai Tzu then pulled off variations in pace and angles to stretch the lead to 7-2. Sindhu then started to dominate the rallies by using her deep clears and drew the Taiwanese close to the net. She used her reach to catch the shuttle early and placed it in difficult positions to narrow the deficit to 6-7. Deceptive net returns and backhand smashes, coupled with unforced errors from Sindhu, allowed the Taiwanese to lead 18-14.

Sindhu clawed back to level the score, but a long rally at 18-18 saw the string of her racquet broke. Tai Tzu unleashed two smashes to move to game point and then grabbed the opening game after winning a video referral when her shuttle landed on the line.

In the second game, Sindhu was left to deal with some indecision due to the sidewise drift which gave early advantage to Tai Tzu but the Indian levelled the score at 4-4 with a superb return at her rival’s forehand.

The duo moved to 7-7 before Tai Tzu hit wide and lost a referral too. A couple of unforced errors on Tai Tzu’s part saw Sindhu move into the mid-game interval with a slender 11-10 lead.

But after the break, Tai Tzu upped the ante and turned the heat on Sindhu, who had spent a lot of energy in containing the Taiwanese. Tai Tzu stamped her authority by playing ruthless and aggressive badminton, making the most of acute angles.