Before the Olympics began last year, Sindhu was 10th in the world and in the matter of seven months has gone up eight spots to reach where only one Indian woman has gone before — Saina Nehwal.

This rise to No. 2 is after a superlative performance on Sunday when she defeated reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain 21-19 21-16 to win her maiden India Open Super Series title. 

In front of a partisan home crowd at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi, the third seeded Indian dominated the match from the start to win the summit clash in 46 minutes. The win also narrowed down Sindhu’s head-to-head record against the Spaniard to 4-5.

Sindhu, however, lost in the opening round of the ongoing Malaysia Superseries Premier, when she went down in three games against World No. 13 Yufei Chen in a shock result on Wednesday. That defeat means that Sindhu’s stay at the second spot is likely to be short-lived.

Saina Nehwal, meanwhile, dropped one place down to No. 9 in the rankings.