Fuzhou: PV Sindhu inched closer to her goal of clinching her maiden Super Series Premier title as she reached the final of the China Open badminton tournament after registering a come from behind win over Korea Sung Ji Hyun at the USD 700,000 tournament here Saturday.
Seventh seed Sindhu edged out Ji Hyun, seeded sixth, 11-21, 23-21, 21-19 in a thrilling contest that lasted 84 minutes. This was Sindhu’s sixth win over Ji Hyun in nine encounters.
Two-time bronze medallist at World Championships, Sindhu will lock horns with local favourite Sun Yu, seeded eighth, in the summit clash here Sunday.
Sindhu was up for a shock in the opening game as she just couldn’t match up with the Korean, who dominated the game all throughout after opening a 5-1 lead early on. Hyun kept extending her lead and eventually pocketed the game comfortably with Sindhu making a number of unforced errors.
Stunned into action, Sindhu then came up with a much improved performance in the second game as she locked herself in a battle of supremacy with Ji Hyun, moving neck and neck till 7-7. The Korean changed gears and entered the break with a 11-7 lead.
After the breather, Sindhu erased the deficit with four points in a row but Hyun again managed to march ahead. She had three match points at 20-17, but Sindhu was not ready to throw in the towel. Sindhu saved two match points with some gritty strokes, and then came up with an angled drop to which the Korean had no answer to, which helped her draw level at 20-all.
Sindhu has a game point at 21-20, but wasted it when her backhand flick went wide. But at 22-21 she came up with a body smash against her opponent to restore parity.
In the decider, Sindhu lagged behind again early on but fought back from 3-7 down to take a slender 10-9 lead. After the break the Korean won a thrilling 32-shot rally that saw her taking a 12-10 lead. The lead frequently changed hand from there on as neither player was ready to give the other an inch.
A superb forehand from Sindhu and an error from Hyun helped the Indian grab two match points at 20-18. Hyun save the first one but Sindhu eventually sealed it with a superb cross court smash.
In her only final appearance in a Super Series event prior to this one, Sindhu had lost to China’s Li Xuerui at the Denmark Open.
Press Trust of India