SINDHU TO FACE MARIN IN TITLE CLASH
BEATS JAPAN’S YAMAGUCHI IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMIFINAL
NEWDELHI/NANJING: PV Sindhu rallied brilliantly to storm into the women’s singles final of the World Badminton Championships with a thrilling 21-16, 24-22 victory over Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in Nanjing, China, on Saturday.
In a repeat of the 2016 Rio Olympics final, third seeded Sindhu will meet Carolina Marin in the title contest on Sunday. Two-time world champion Marin defeated Chinese sixth seed He Bingjiao 13-21, 21-16, 21-13 in a marathon match that lasted an hour and nine minutes.
Sindhu, who had defeated defending champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan on Friday, was trailing in both the games but made a stunning recovery to make it to her second successive final at the Worlds. “It’s going to be a good match. We know each other’s game. I hope for a better result,” Sindhu said about her final against Marin.
Beating Okuhara and Yamaguchi, the two Japanese who have been a thorn in her flesh, in successive days, will give Sindhu a lot of confidence. “I was prepared for long matches because both Yamaguchi and Okuhara are very good players. In the second game when I was down, I thought let me try and it wasn’t over for me. I had to work hard for each point,” said Sindhu.
Coming into the semi-final, Sindhu had a 6-4 advantage against Yamaguchi but had lost to her at the All England Open semifinals in March.
Yamaguchi showed intent in the beginning as she raced to a 5-0 lead. But Sindhu bounced back to draw close to 4-7. The ace Indian was working her opponent around the court and was quick to bring out her attacking strokes at the slightest opportunity. Yamaguchi had a slender lead of 11-8 in the break, but Sindhu came out firing after that. From 12-12, Sindhu took six points in a row. The second seed looked helpless in front of Sindhu’s changed tactics. Sindhu used her smashes to good effect while her retrieving skills came to the fore when she twice returned Yamaguchi’s smashes at 17-12.
After the change of ends, Yamaguchi engaged Sindhu at the net and again hit the right notes to lead 7-3. The rallies were becoming longer and the Japanese led 11-7 at the break.
At 11-9, it was an intense rally that was won by the Japanese. Sindhu made a few judgement errors on the line and Yamaguchi seemed to have the momentum at 15-11. She played fearlessly to draw level at 19-19.
Now Sindhu had the momentum and earned a matchpoint after a long rally as Yamaguchi lost a net dribble. Yamaguchi saved one and eked out a gamepoint but her service sailed long. Sindhu lost a second matchpoint as the two players gave it all. The Indian, however, was third time lucky when a Yamaguchi error gave the Indian entry into the final.
MOMOTA IN FINAL
Japan’s Kento Momota, who last year completed a lengthy ban for illegal gambling, will play China’s Shi Yuqi in men’s final, which promises to be a thrilling showdown between two of badminton’s rising stars.