India's Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu continued to battle a title drought this season following a straight-game defeat against Akane Yamaguchi who hails from Japan in the final of the women's singles category in the Indonesia Open Super Series. 


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The shuttler failed to make her presence felt despite entering the final of the tournament on the back of a 21-19, 21-10 win against Chen Yufei, as fourth-seed Akane defeated her 15-21, 16-21.


While the 24-year-old Indian athlete won the first point of the final, she failed to hold on to her advantage conceding three points to the Japanese player. Sindhu made a comeback in the first game, with the clash evenly drawn at 8-8 following four back-to-back points on the back of some sharp shots. 


The duo continued to battle it out with nothing to separate the two players as the scoreline read 14-14 after the Indian shuttler won three straight points to take a lead, which was followed by another comeback by Akane Yamaguchi. 


However, the Japanese seed continued to score points at a consistent rate after being down 8-12 at one stage to win the first game 21-15. 


The second game was comprehensively dominated by Akane Yamaguchi after some initial resistance from Sindhu with the scoreline reading 4-4 early on. The Japanese kept Sindhu away from the net, winning the longest rally of the match (51 shots) resulting in a 21-16 win in the second game as well. 


It is certainly interesting to note that the Indian shuttler held a 10-4 advantage over her opponent before the clash, having defeated her in their last four matches as well.