Busanan Ongbamrungphan must be sick of the sight of PV Sindhu, even though she doesn’t show it on court during their matches. On Tuesday in Shenzhen at the China Masters Super 750, the Thai shuttler threw her arms up in the air with what could be best described as a wry, bemused smile. As she sent a simple forehand tap into the net, the round of 32 match ended 21-17, 21-19 in favour of Sindhu. And with that, the Indian extended her Head-to-Head record against Busanan to an incredible 20-1.

As much as any of the previous 19 defeats, this one will hurt Busanan pretty badly. It’s hard to make out her mindset from her on-court demeanour, because she almost always plays with a smile. But this 20th defeat could have easily been a win as Busanan had a handy lead in both games. In the opener, she was up 14-10 but Sindhu stormed back by winning 9 straight points and eventually closed it out 21-17. In Game 2, the world No 11 from Thailand led 10-6 and 13-9. Sindhu once again went on a mini run of four straight points from 15-17 down to assert her dominance. Both players had a smile as they exchanged a handshake at the net but the context behind it couldn’t have been more contrasting.

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— BWF (@bwfmedia) November 20, 2024

The match was off to a fairly even start as both players traded leads in the opening exchanges. When Busanan played a sensational behind-the-back shot to catch Sindhu on the backfoot and make it 10-10, you perhaps wondered if this was the Thai’s day. It kickstarted a 5-point run. But Sindhu played a clever hold-and-flick to win the serve back and then raced ahead. Partly, with her signature steep downward attacking strokes that have always troubled Busanan but also thanks to the latter making a flurry of errors with her length.

The point at 16-14 saw Sindhu somehow just about managing to stay in the rally, with all the attacking pressure coming from Busanan who then inexplicably let the shuttle drop well before the baseline in a bad misjudgment of length, this time on defence.

To her credit, Busanan didn’t wither away in Game 2 after the disappointing manner in which she lost the opener. But Sindhu, despite trailing for pretty much the entirety of it, levelled it up at 17-17 with a shot that had helped her immensely in this game: the round-the-head forehand smash to Busanan’s backhand side. Most times when Busanan gave Sindhu the height to work with, the Indian opted for that shot instead of a backhand drive, and it put her opponent under all sorts of trouble. A lovely exchange at the net gave Sindhu the match point and she closed it out.

It meant one of the craziest head-to-head records there is badminton just keeps getting more lopsided. Sindhu will next face the winner of Yeo Jia Min vs Lo Sin Yan Happy.