Seoul: Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Saturday went past China’s He Bingjiao 21-10, 17-21 and 21-16 in a semi-final contest of an hour and six minutes to set up a summit clash against Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the final of the Korea Super Series.
Sindhu had come into the match with a 3-5 head-to-head record against the Chinese and also had lost to her at the Asia Badminton Championship earlier this year. But the 22-year old put on a good show against the world no. 7 Bingjiao to book a place in the finals scheduled to be played tomorrow.
Thus the Korea Super Series finals would be an exact repeat of the World Championship final played earlier this year in Glasgow where both Sindhu and Okuhara played a thriller of a match and where the Japanese had emerged as the eventual winner. Sindhu, having come very close to winning the gold would have redemption on her mind and would aim at outplaying the eighth seeded Okuhara in a final this time around.
Sindhu who is world no.4 at the moment would love to add the Korea Super Series title in a trophy cabinet that already contains a lot of accolades including the 2016 China Super Series Premier and the India Super Series and Syed Modi Grand Prix gold, which she had won this year.
The World Championship gold medalist Okuhara, who had clinched a bronze in the Olympics last year defeated compatriot second seeded Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-18 to advance to the finals.
Sindhu started of the first game in emphatic fashion as he raced to a 9-1 advantage before heading to the break having an upper hand at 11-4 when Bingjiao hit out.
Despite making a few unforced errors, Sindhu didn’t lose control over the match and gained a 10-point advantage when the left-handed Chinese hit out once again.
In the second game, both of them were tied at 4-4 initially before Sindhu gained a five-point advantage at the break. But a lot of unforced errors on her part in addition to the tough fightback by the Chinese slowly took the game away from her control levelled up things in the semi-final.
The third and deciding match between the two saw the longest and quickest rallies between the two but Sindhu managed to lead the match at 9-6 before Bingjiao fought back with three straight points.
But the Indian had the advantage heading into the break for the third time and extended her dominance after it as Bingjiao failed to make a comeback.
Sindhu, however didn’t give the Chinese any room for a fightback as she gained an advantage at 19-15 before Bingjiao scored a point. But that wasn’t enough as Sindhu sealed a win thereafter with a lucky net chord.