Sindhu smashes Intanon, in Hong Kong Open final
SUBLIME Wins 2117, 2117 in just 43 minutes to reach her third Superseries final of the year
NEWDELHI: PV Sindhu was in sublime form on Saturday as she defeated former world badminton champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in straight games to enter the women’s singles final at the $400,000 Hong Kong Open Superseries.
In a battle of 22-year-olds, it was the second-seeded Indian who came out on top, winning 21-17, 21-17 in 43 minutes at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
This was only world No 3 Sindhu’s second win in six meetings against the Thai sixth seed, and first since September 2015 when the Rio Olympics silver medallist clinched the match in the decider.
Sunday’s final will be a repeat of last year’s summit clash as Sindhu will face world No 1, top seed and defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Asian champion Tai, who beat South Korean third seed Sung Ji-hyun 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in 52 minutes in the other semi-final, will be aiming to win her fifth Superseries crown of 2017 after triumphing at All England, Malaysia, Singapore and France.
Sindhu will be eyeing her third Superseries title after wins in the India Open in New Delhi and in South Korea.
Sindhu has her task cut out in the final in Hong Kong as she has a 3-7 career record against the Chinese Taipei opponent.
World No 1 Tai has won the last three meetings between them, including two this year. The last time triple World Championships medallist Sindhu won against Tai was in the opening round of the Rio Olympics.
However, Sindhu was in control against Ratchanok.
Like the quarter-finals against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi on Friday, Sindhu led from the start.
Sixth seed Ratchanok’s deceptive shots at the net proved inef- fective as Sindhu tackled them with ease, often catching the Thai girl with a drop or loft.
Though Ratchanok pushed herself hard, she was far from her best as Sindhu took an 11-7 lead at the break in the first game.
The Hyderabad player reached game point (20-13) quickly but Ratchanok didn’t give up easily, saving four game points before Sindhu closed it out.
It was close early on in the second game, but from 5-6 Sindhu won seven straight points, taking a big step towards the final after going 12-6 up.
The gap proved too big for Ratchanok though she came close.
The rallies got longer towards the end of the match. However, at the end Sindhu needed just one matchpoint toclose outthegame and match.