All posts tagged: Sindhu vs Yamaguchi

PV Sindhu wins maiden Japan Open title, downs Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-17 in final

PV Sindhu wins maiden Japan Open title, downs Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-17 in final

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Jul 19, 2026 10:10 AM IST PV Sindhu ended a 19-month drought for a tour title on Sunday, beating world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi on her home turf to clinch her maiden Japan Open title in Tokyo. Initially finding herself trailing behind the Japanese in the opening game, Sindhu rallied back to clinch the title 21-14, 21-17. It is the former world champion’s first tour-level triumph since clinching the Syed Modi International title at home in December 2024. ALSO READ | Sindhu ‘definitely a threat’ for World Championships, LA 2028: Gopichand The win marked her first Super 750 Series title win and first major title win in seven years since clinching the World Championships title in 2019. The 31-year-old Sindhu, who had prevailed over an injured Chen Yufei in the semi-final, was meeting Yamaguchi for the 30th time in her career. Yamaguchi had retired a set down earlier at Malaysia this year, but entered the contest on the back of a fine streak over Sindhu, winning 7 of their last 10 completed …

Why PV Sindhu tends to lose to Akane Yamaguchi

Why PV Sindhu tends to lose to Akane Yamaguchi

Published by Webster

4 min readMay 15, 2026 02:57 PM IST PV Sindhu has cost Akane Yamaguchi an Olympic medal in 2021. The Japanese on her part, has stopped Sindhu from winning two coveted titles – the Badminton Asia Championships twice, including a semis – her best showing – in 2022, and prequarters in 2025. Sindhu’s best chance at winning the All England in 2018 too, was snuffed out by the now World No 3, who might be badminton’s biggest WS name to not medal at Olympics. In sheer World Championships counts, Yamaguchi has 3 titles, Sindhu has 1. It’s a long, storied rivalry which includes a cat that bizarrely sauntered into a Philippines arena court that had Yamaguchi hypnotically following its stroll and oblivious to Sindhu arguing a line call with the chair umpire. The brilliance is of course in how, Sindhu’s fighting abilities get accentuated when she plays Yamaguchi. There’s no needle in the 13-15 rivalry because Yamaguchi is incapable of tiffing with opponents, and lives in her own world. But what’s not changed through the …