Steady Sung Stonewalls Pusarla – All England: Day 1
Women’s singles third seed Pusarla V Sindhu saved eight match points before going down to Sung Ji Hyun in the opening round of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships 2019.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Pusarla, who was one of the favourites to win the title given her season-ending victory at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in December, never quite looked in control of the match. The Indian struggled to break free of her Korean opponent, whose efficient court movement and steady play eventually wore her down.
Sung had her chance to clinch the match in straight games with three match points in the second, but Pusarla played some of her best badminton at this stage. The Indian might have anticipated a switch in momentum, but Sung’s shoulders didn’t drop and she continued to stay rock-steady in the rallies, extracting several errors from Pusarla.
The Indian did raise visions of a stunning come-from-behind victory by saving five match points from 13-20 down, until Sung won a point at the net to close it out 21-16 20-22 21-18.