"Trailing 7-13 in the final game, I almost accepted defeat. But then I calmed down from thereon and that allowed me to win points continuously."
Akane Yamaguchi was talking about the turning point in her pulsating semifinal victory PV Sindhu, a match where both players mesmerized and wooed the crowd with the highest quality of badminton. It was a match of fine margins with Yamaguchi eventually conquering her own nerves, before pipping Sindhu 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 to make her maiden finals at the All England Open.
Yamaguchi conceded later that once she had erased that feeling of winning the match while trailing 7-13 in the final game, her focus was renewed and she started to play good strokes. "Initially I wanted to win so much. That feeling was so strong to overcome. But when the feeling was gone, I could calm myself down quickly without rushing into the point," Yamaguchi told ESPN.
For Sindhu, it was a disappointment having started the match so strongly. "Each point really mattered for both us. I could have taken two points when I was in the lead towards the end in the final game. We were on equal footing today. It was not my day today. I do not regret anything but, yes, there is that sad part I could not reach the final."
Yamaguchi vs. Sindhu: World No. 2 against World No. 3. Two of the most consistent and best women's badminton players pitted against each other. A contest that will only become more and more appealing if the two players carry on chiseling their matchplay as the years go by.
It was Sindhu's first semifinal appearance at the tournament. She and Birmingham - as did most of England - had woken up watching snow flakes floating. Inside the warm cauldron of the Arena, Sindhu dominated Yamaguchi, taking a 6-0 lead swiftly. Astonishingly, the match was barely a minute old. Six minutes into the game, Sindhu would be sitting pretty on a 11-5 lead.
Yamaguchi's strategy has always been to be deceptive by hitting those patented soft drops from the back of the court, that soft float over the net which the opponent rushes to the net to collect, only to watch the Japanese finishing off the point with a half smash or a push.
Yamaguchi stands just 5'1" tall, a good 10 inches shorter than Sindhu. Despite her reach, Sindhu needed to be footloose and balanced mid-court to anticipate the rushes to the net and then lunge to the back of the court to keep the rallies alive. She also had to play the half smashes and display quick hands during the close exchanges in the forecourt to push her opponent on the backfoot. She did all that to have the upperhand straightaway.
At 17-10, it seemed like this was going to be an easy finish for Sindhu. But Yamaguchi collected herself and stitched together a crucial seven-point winning streak, which was snapped after a push went long. Sindu shrieked "come on" to vent her frustration. Soon she would hit a powerful smash that kissed the net chord en route to her clinching the game.
Despite being a game down, the seven-point comeback had injected Yamaguchi with a renewed drive. It also meant that the quality of the play was now enlivened with both players playing some breathtaking shots. If Sindhu was composed and covering the court nicely, she kept getting drawn to the net by those succulent Yamaguchi drops during engrossing rallies.
One such drop took her to 19-15. However, Sindhu made a comeback with some forceful play and then saved a game point at 20-18. Yamaguchi then finished the game with an overhead crosscourt that fell low to Sindhu's left.
An hour into the match, Sindhu led 11-7 in the final game. Depite Yamaguchi's resistance, Sindhu had made sure she was strong in the rallies and more importantly, she was moving Yamaguchi in different directions before hitting the winner. She would stretch the lead to six points after Yamaguchi hit long and then offered a weak drop shot that cut shot a rally where she was in control for the most part.
In command at 13-7, the situation was wlecome for Sindhu, who had trailed 12-17 at crucial points in her two matches.
It was then that the turning point that Yamaguchi referred to arrived. Trailing 9-13, Yamaguchi played the shot of the match when she finished a marathon rally with a drop shot that Sindhu was never ready for. Sindhu had tried everything, smashes, pushes, good lifts, but the one thing Yamaguchi had done well was to stay calm.
Thereon, she slowed the pace of the game, put herself in control and that affected the Indian mentally. At 18-all, Sindhu faltered in her response from the mid-court which allowed Yamaguchi to take the vital lead. "I just played mid-court into her hands and she just hit it off. I could have hit it a little more back," Sindhu said after the defeat.
A swift mid-court exchange followed, which Yamaguchi won by pushing low to Sindhu's left corner in the forecourt. Yamaguchi converted the match point easily to end Sindhu's dream of making her maiden All England final.
Yamaguchi smiled while acknowledging the healthy Indian presence in the 6,000-strong arena. But she realised quickly that if she could play good badminton, she could win over some crowd support herself that would keep her strong mentally and that is what happened.