Nanjing (China): PV Sindhu guaranteed herself of a fourth medal in the Badminton World Championships here Saturday by entering the finals for the second successive time. She already has two World Championships bronze (2013, 2014) and a silver (2017) medal to her kitty. Now it remains to be seen whether she can add that elusive gold medal to her trophy cabinet.
In the semifinals, Sindhu saw off a fighting Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in straight games 21-16, 24-22 in a match that lasted 54 minutes. She will meet Spaniard Carolina Marin who beat Chinese He Bingjiao 13-21, 21-16, 21-13.
Sindhu said that she was aware she would have to play a long match against Yamaguchi. “We know each other’s game, we play very often, we played at the All England Championships. So we needed to be patience and consistent to win. I was prepared for long matches because both Yamaguchi and Okuhara are very good players and can go on and on in the rallies,” Sindhu pointed out.
“So I had to be on the court always. In the second game when I was down, I still had hope that till the last point it wasn’t over for me, so I kept working hard and it paid off.”
Sindhu looked a bit nervous and took time to get into the groove and Yamaguchi raced to a 5-0 lead. However, Sindhu with some great retrieving reeled off five points in a row from 4-8 to lead 9-8. Two net errors in a row however, enabled the Japanese lead 11-10 at the interval.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be an aggressive match. Again we know each other’s game, so no easy matches, easy points, just have to turn up and give my best
PV Sindhu
After the breather, Sindhu struck a purple patch and reeled off eight points in a row to lead 18-12. She then closed off the game with a deft forecourt placement that drew an error from the Japanese.
In the second game, Sindhu was again down 2-6. But whenever the Japanese looked like getting away, Sindhu was always breathing down her neck. Yamaguchi however, continued to attack and led 14-9 and looked like restoring parity when she led 19-12.
Sindhu then, like she did in the first, scripted an incredible recovery, reeling off eight straight points to grab one match point. Yamaguchi saved one before holding a game point herself. However, the Japanese goofed up during the serve to squander her advantage.
After another intense rally, Yamaguchi went long to hand over Sindhu a second match point but what ensued next was the longest rally of the contest, comprising 41 shots, which ended with Sindhu hitting wide.
However, Yamaguchi hit wide again to gift Sindhu her third match point and this time she converted it after the Japanese went wide again.