Macau, Dec 1 (IANS) Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu won the women’s singles title at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold by defeating Canada’s seventh seed Li Michelle in the final here Sunday.
The World No.11 won 21-15, 21-12 in 37 minutes in their first ever encounter at the Macau Forum to clinch her second Grand Prix Gold title. Sindhu won the Malaysia Open in May.
The Hyderabadi led the first game right from the start, bagging the first seven points in no time. Though Li tried closing down the gap (9-6), the World Championship bronze medallist proved too good for her World No.30 opponent and raced away to kitty the first game in 16 minutes.
Sindhu used her height to her advantage, notching up more winners at the net than her opponent while several other points came as the she forced the Chinese to commit errors.
The second game was a neck-and-neck battle till 6-all, but from there the Indian won eight straight points to take a huge advantage. Li tried fighting back but it proved a little too late as Sindhu sealed the game and match on her first championship point to take home a cheque of $9,000.
It has been a steady rise for Sindhu this year as she achieved a few firsts.
Apart from winning her first Tier III title in Malaysia, she also entered the top-10 of world rankings in August. To add to that, the Arjuna Awardee also won India’s first ever women’s singles medal at the World Championships by taking a bronze in August.