Down 16-18 to PV Sindhu in the first game of the Swiss Open final, Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan must have thought she'd have a chance to close that gap down to one point. She'd worked the Indian around the court and by putting her in incrementally worse positions, found herself in the middle of the court with a weak lift to put away. The smash directed at Sindhu's body, though, would be punched clear. Instead of an easy point, the Thai player, who had overcommitted to the shot, was suddenly on the defensive. A few exchanges later, Busanan would grimace wryly as Sindhu put away a smash winner to extend her lead to three points.
About a quarter of an hour later, Sindhu had cruised to a 21-16, 21-8 win to lift her second title of the season and the 16th of her career.
It's hard to say just where this would rank. It's certainly not even her most prestigious one at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel - that would be the World Championship title she won in 2019. This probably isn't even the most significant win of the season -- the Syed Modi title in February was her first in 28 months. This was, however, her first title outside India since that 2019 Worlds.
Busanan Ongbamrungphan 🇹🇭 and former world champion Pusarla V. Sindhu 🇮🇳 clash to be crowned champion 🏆 in Basel.#BWFWorldTour #SwissOpen2022 pic.twitter.com/1gBnSuKzO3
- BWF (@bwfmedia) March 27, 2022
The Swiss Open Super 300 was a tournament that Sindhu was expected to win. She was the highest ranked player in the women's draw, which was missing the usual disruptors in her path - world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara, as well as the fast rising Korean An Seyoung. Her opponent in the final was at the wrong end of a lopsided 1-15 record against her. Busanan is the hard-working, rangy right-hander that's has been bread and butter for the Indian in the past.
Yet this victory has its value. Post the 2021 Tokyo Games, where she won her second Olympic medal, Sindhu has struggled to find the form that made her one of the toughest opponents in world badminton. Her ranking - frozen due to a quirk of the post COVID world - has remained a constant seven. Yet she's watched as other singles players such as Kidambi Srikanth at the World Championships and then Lakshya Sen at the All England championships played for silverware even as she didn't make the competition weekend.
But while Sindhu has fallen short at the biggest tournaments, the Swiss Open title would have proved that she is not going to be an easy mark any time soon.
In the final, Busanan had come prepared. As Sindhu's hour-and-19-minute long semi-final against Thai compatriot Supanida Katethong had suggested, there were areas Busanan could try and exploit. She tried to force the pace in the first game and test Sindhu in the first half of her court. She used some short drops to force Sindhu to stretch. But despite being pushed, Sindhu never once looked she didn't have the answers.
Her movement might no longer be the best in the world, but retrieving is still a potent weapon for the Indian. Busanan didn't have the pace to outwork Sindhu and her best shots would keep coming back as the match went on. After a hard-fought first game, Sindhu moved up a gear in the second game. As the Thai got more desperate to finish the shuttle that Sindhu kept pulling back into play, she conceded a pile of errors.
Match point was earned when, despite being at the disadvantage throughout the rally, Sindhu retrieved enough to force a smash well wide of the tramline. The Thai pulled back a few points but the India completed a win. It was a workman-like performance and the modest fist pump by Sindhu suggested she knew that too.
As the 2022 season continues, there will be bigger tournaments that Sindhu will want to bring her A Game to. While it remains to be seen whether the Indian can challenge the best, her performance at Basel proves at least that she's better than the rest.