A pivoting backhand lob that went over the head of Line Kjaersfeldt. It came after PV Sindhu had used strong wrists and great anticipation to stay in the rally – a rare occasion when the Dane dictated. It was the limited repertoire of the 32-year-old Kjaersfeldt in some part. But the Indian’s 21-12, 21-14 victory to win her second tite of 2026 at Hylo Open in her third final, was down to one of the most underrated aspects of her game – the creativity.
Power and persistence have always been hallmarks of her game. But the technically insistent coach Irwansyah has brought about incredible metamorphosis in Sindhu’s creative game, which has bloomed as she has grown confident in her abilities to think on her feet, trust her defense and that cellular-Sindhu quality of treating every point as important. In her second stint in the Top 10 these past six months, the Indian harnesses her physicality to use the court’s geometry. Often second-best to Carolina Marin in speed, Sindhu has worked on her reflexes and reactions, and from there sprouted the backhand lob that arced over the Dane’s head, deflating her attempts at initiative.
The racquetwork needed her to get across her body and send the shuttle into a parabola at 17-11.
But the win was a walk in the park – a reflection of what will push Sindhu back to World No 6 next week. The first point had come from a cross court smash, a signature by now. Half a dozen came from her net attacks where she believes she can be domineering, not just dominant. The drops to the net were otherwise used to elicit lifts that Sindhu could easily put away.
Runners and retrievers like Kjaersfeldt stand a very tiny chance against Sindhu, when she is dictating both the power and pace like she did these last two weeks. At the French, she had ran into An Se-young, but at neighbouring Germany, she went on to collect her 7th career Tour title, handing the Dane her 8th loss in 8 career finals.
It is bad enough for opponents that Sindhu can rain down smashes from the back. But when she looms large at the net and twiddles her racquet strokes while also rampaging with net smashes when charging, it’s pretty much difficult to devise counters.
Three of the Top 4 – Se-young, Chen Yufei and Akane Yamaguchi remain tricky, though she beat the Japanese at Japan earlier this year for a Super 750 title. But Sindhu 3.0 is a serious threat to opponents and the World Tour Finals will test them severely.
