Sindhu beats Yamaguchi, in final

Bali, December 4

India badminton star PV Sindhu entered the final of the BWF World Tour Finals with a hard-fought win over Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals here today.

However, young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen lost in straight games to reigning Olympics champion and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men’s singles semifinals. Axelsen beat Sen 21-13 21-11 in 39 minutes.

Sindhu, the reigning world champion and two-time Olympics medallist, beat Yamaguchi 21-15 15-21 21-19 in a thrilling match that lasted one hour and 10 minutes.

She will now face South Korea’s An Se-young, who beat Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 25-23 21-17 in the other semifinal, for the title tomorrow. It will be Sindhu’s third final appearance in the season-ending tournament. She had won the title in 2018 to become the only Indian to achieve the feat.

Fine form

The world No. 7 Indian had come into the match with an overall head-to-head record of 12-8 against the world No. 3 Yamaguchi.

Sindhu has been in fine form after picking up the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. She had reached the semifinals in her last three events — French Open, Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open — before the BWF World Tour Finals. She had also finished runners-up at the Swiss Open in March.

But it won’t be easy for her in the final against Se-young, who had come into the season-ending tournament with back-to-back titles at the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open. World No. 6 Se-young had beaten Sindhu in the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open in October.

Close affair

Against Yamaguchi, Sindhu trailed 0-4 in the first game but quickly levelled at 4-4. The duo were neck and neck before Sindhu zoomed ahead from 15-14 to reach 18-15. She then took three straight points to win the first game.

The second game was also a tight contest but Yamaguchi shifted gears to pocket it without much fuss.

In the decider, Sindhu and Yamaguchi were tied at 5-5 before the Indian reeled off seven straight points. The Japanese made a comeback but Sindhu kept her at bay and closed out the game. — PTI