Tokyo Olympics: What PV Sindhu should do to beat Tai Tzu Ying | Tokyo Olympics News – Times of India

Sindhu downed Tai at the Rio Olympics in 2016, World Tour Finals in 2018 and the World Championships in 2019.
Moreover, of all the four semifinalists – Tai, He Bingjiao and Chen Yufei – Sindhu’s game looked good as she made very few unforced errors and always kept the shuttle in the court.
But when she plays Tai, this is not enough.

Typically, if you give time to Tai she will dominate and play her strokes. Sindhu’s strokes or drives should be fast and she should always be aggressive. If you play a waiting time with Tai, the latter, famous for her trickery, will easily take control.
Sindhu should keep Tai always on the move. Sindhu’s strength is her physical ability to play hard smashes. She should try to penetrate Tai’s defence with her smashes. Her smashes from the middle of the court against Yamaguchi were quite impressive and her retrieving improved a lot.
The manner she controlled the front court was quite impressive. This is one area Sindhu had improved in the last few months.

Sindhu should dictate the pace of the match and should hit hard whenever it is possible. If you try to engage Tai more near the net it may backfire as the world No.1 is known for hitting hard from acute angles.
Having played a long rally game on Friday, Sindhu needs to recover fast and be fresh for the tough match. Her new equipment should come in handy now.
Another aspect Sindhu can exploit is that Tai would be under pressure as she had not won a medal at big events like Olympics and World Championships. If Sindhu secures some early lead, Tai could crack under pressure.