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.
The Indian would declare the win was a birthday gift for her Strength & Conditioning coach Wayne Lombard.
“Hats off to my team. We have been planning accordingly. As you get older it becomes important to be smarter in what you choose. But also important for me to stay calm and I know there’s still room to improve. Things are getting better,” she would tell BWF, adding, “My husband is here so I plan to celebrate with all my family. It’s also my SnC coach Wayne Lombard’s birthday. So this is a gift to him,” she added.
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.
PV Sindhu won the HYLO Open 2026, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event. (Photo: BWF/Badminton Photo)
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.
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Sindhu’s accolades
10: Sindhu’s BWF Tour titles — Japan Open 2026, Hylo Open 2026, Singapore Open 2022, Swiss Open 2022, Syed Modi International 2024 and 2022, BWF World Tour Finals 2018, India Open 2017, Korea Open 2017, China Open 2016
5: Her World Championships medals — gold in 2019, silver in 2017 and 2018, bronze in 2013 and 2014
2: Olympic medals — Rio 2016 silver and Tokyo 2020 bronze
9: Years after which Sindhu has won two BWF Super 500 or better titles
“I think it was important for me to give my 100 percent irrespective of who the opponent was,” she said. “We have played a lot of times and for me it was important to focus on every point. Not about whole game but every point mattered to me. I took the lead from the beginning and didn’t give her a chance.”
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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.
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“Grateful to my whole team. Everyone worked very hard. There are days when you are absolutely low and they are there to pump you up. It’s been an amazing week. It’s time to go back and celebrate,” she would say.
