PV Sindhu is no stranger to nightmare draws. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, her last four opponents were Tai Tzu Ying (seeded eighth), Wang Yihan (seeded second), Nozomi Okuhara (seeded sixth) and Carolina Marin (seeded top).
While Marin had been World Champion twice till then and World No. 1, Wang's bio read the former world champion and silver medalist at the previous Olympic Games. She was also the player to win the most Superseries titles in history. Even the group in which Sindhu was included was not as simple as the then Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Lee.
Sindhu, however, was unconcerned and played the best badminton of her career till then to beat everyone except Marin. What made him even more impressive was his nature. He did not miss a game in the knockout before the final (Mitchell took a game from him in the group stage) and also won the first game in the final.
Sindhu could be forgiven for thinking she would have a good draw in Tokyo. As the current world champion - he is ranked higher here than in Rio - he needs to win six matches to get the gold.
He is halfway through without losing a game as his draw was pretty straight forward so far. The toughest opponent in front of him is World No. 12 Mia Blichfelt, an opponent she lost only once in five career meetings before this Olympics.
However, it is these three matches that will give Sindhu a sense of deja vu.
Home favorite and fourth seed Yamaguchi will be the first for Sindhu. If she surpasses that, a possible semi-final awaits either Tai (the player with the most women's singles World Tour titles in history and the woman to spend the most weeks as world No. 1) or former world champion Ratchanok Intanon. Is. His most likely eventual opponent is top seed Chen Yufei or former world champion Okuhara.
So does Sindhu start off as the favourite?
Yamaguchi is seeded two places above Sindhu here, with Sindhu usually keeping her best reserve for the biggest tournament. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, has been more consistent on the World Tour, but has rarely reached the last four at the biggest tournaments. Sindhu has five World, one Olympic and one Asian Games medals in singles, while Yamaguchi has only one World medal and one Asian Games medal in singles.
Sindhu leads 11-7 on aggregate but the rivalry has been very close in recent times. Sindhu leads 6-4 since the start of 2008 but Yamaguchi has won three of her last four matches. Both women have played three quarterfinals against each other in their careers, with Sindhu winning two of those three matches. Her most recent match came this year at the All England Open where Sindhu went on to win three matches in a tight-fisted manner.
Sindhu's stamina and retrieve ability are at best, but she would be best served to try to keep the points low against Yamaguchi, who has tried to tire Sindhu by dragging rallies in the past. At the All England Open, Sindhu didn't have much in the tank after a tough fight with Yamaguchi and lost in straight games in the semi-finals. With the semi-finals to be held here the next day, endurance could again be a key factor.
13 out of 18 matches between these two players have been won by the player who takes the opening game, so it will be important to start well tomorrow. After being out of competitive action for several months, Sindhu looked a bit rough in her first match but her sharpness progressively improved. While she has always had the ability to speed up the pace of the match, her ability to slow down the pace of play and then increase it suddenly has troubled opponents in Tokyo so far.
Yamaguchi has relied on pulling Sindhu over the net after pushing her deep in the past and Sindhu's net play will be tested again tomorrow as she certainly has more power and shot power from behind the court than Yamaguchi. weight, which is about a foot smaller than that.
As she has often shown in the past, Sindhu is a big match player and as the tournament progresses, she often finds it difficult to beat. Yamaguchi is a doggie retriever with a deadly smash, but Sindhu's more experience at the highest level and her big serpent should see her win this and perhaps clash in the semi-finals against Tai or Intanon.