Interestingly, it was Wang against whom Sindhu had won the finals during her last BWF title at the Singapore Open.

Sindhu was leading 11-3 at the interval in the third game but she fell into a pool of errors after the change of sides as Wang won 18 of the next 23 points to seal the trophy in her name.

Sindhu, who will be eyeing her third Olympic medal at the Paris Games, has looked subdued since making a comeback from a knee injury early this season.

It has been a while since Sindhu has defeated big guns such as Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu Ying, Chen Yu Fei and Akane Yamaguchi — whom she is expected to come across at the Paris Olympics.

But the 28-year-old from Hyderabad, who now trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, looked in fine fettle this week but the loss against Wang from a winning position is something which she would look to address in the coming months.

The final lived up to the expectations as the two traded blows right from the start, looking to play at a high pace. Sindhu managed a 6-4 lead only for Wang to claw back with two points.

The Indian showed great defence and kept putting the pressure on Wang, who too aimed to inject pace in the rallies and disposed of anything in the hitting zone.

But the Chinese overdid things as a cross-court net flick and another return went wide. The rallies got tighter and fast-paced but Sindhu managed to hold an 11-9 lead at the break. Sindhu left Wang crammed for space with her returns to move to 13-9. The angled returns, the defensive lifts and trademark smashes became more regular as Sindhu dominated the proceedings to jump to a 17-10 lead.

The Indian committed a few errors as Wang made it 16-19.

However, Sindhu grabbed four game points when Wang went long and sealed it comfortably.