(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) PV Sindhu, the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic silver, became the first player from her cricket-mad country to reach the final of the Dubai World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Saturday.
Sindhu had reached the semifinals in this prestigious season-ending finale in Dubai last year. And even before the tournament started this year, the 22-year-old player made it clear that she wanted to take one step further.
But unlike Friday's last group game against world number two Akane Yamaguchi, this wasn't a cake walk for Sindhu. She did enough, though, to extinguish the hopes of the Chinese teen sensation Chen Yufei.
Sindhu's 21-15, 21-18 victory over the 19-year-old Yufei came in 59 minutes. In the end, the affable girl from Hyderabad heaved a sigh of relief as Yufei, at 16-13, was threatening to take the match into the third set.
"It was a very tough match. The rallies were really long. Overall, it was a very high quality match. But now I need to rest and prepare for the big final tomorrow," the world number three told reporters after the match.
"Of course, I am very happy to have become the first Indian to reach the final in the season-ending championship. But I want to become the first Indian player to win the title here," she added.
In Sunday's championship decider, Sindhu will take on Yamaguchi who she had beaten in emphatic fashion (21-9, 21-13) in her last Group A game on Friday.
Yamaguchi bounced back from that humiliating defeat with an epic come-from-behind semifinal victory (17-21, 21-12, 21-19) over Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
"I will be playing against Yamaguchi. It's going to be a very different game tomorrow. Thanks to the crowd for the amazing support in the last two days. I just need to play one more good match," Sindhu said.
Yamaguchi, on the other hand, after having taken her semifinal to the third set, was in big trouble when Intanon took a commanding 17-13 lead in the decider.
But the Japanese star launched a ruthless attack on Intanon to win six points on the trot. It shattered the confidence of her rival who never recovered from Yamaguchi's brutal counterattack.
"I thought I would lose the match. So I felt I needed to go for everything as I had nothing to lose. And that turned out to be the key in my victory today," Yamaguchi said after the match.
"I just wanted to stay on the court as long as possible. I just played with genuine passion."
Fans can expect plenty of fireworks in the men's final on Sunday when defending champion Viktor Axelsen takes on Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei in the final.
Axelsen outplayed China's Shi Yuqi 21-12, 21-8 in the first men's semifinal and Lee outclassed South Korea's Son Wan Ho (21-17 21-11) in the second semifinal.
It's the third Dubai final for Denmark's Axelsen, the defending champion, and Lee is a four-time champion of the season-ending championships but none of his wins came in Dubai which started hosting the event from 2014.
Kenneth Jonassen, the head coach of the Danish national badminton team, now expects a very tough fight between Axelsen and Lee on Sunday.
"Against Lee, it's going to be a high-paced game," Jonassen told Khaleej Times after Axelsen's semifinal win on Saturday.
"Lee has one of the best attacks in the world. He is so skillful and experienced and it's going to be tough for Viktor. It's always a demanding task to beat him. I am looking at a close encounter."
RESULTS
Semifinals
Men's singles
Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) beat Son Wan Ho (South Korea) 21-17 21-11
Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) beat Shi Yuqi (China) 21-12, 21-8
Women's singles
PV Sindhu (India) beat Chen Yufei (China) 21-15, 21-18
Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) beat Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) 17-21, 21-12, 21-19
Men's doubles
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (Indonesia)/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Indonesia) beat Takeshi Kamura (Japan)/Keigo Sonoda (Japan) 21-10, 18-21, 21-16
Liu Cheng (China)/Zhang Nan (China) beat Mathias Boe (Denmark)/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) 21-17, 21-16
Women's doubles
Shiko Tanaka (Japan)/Koharu Yonemoto (Japan) beat Kamila Rytter Jhul (Denmark)/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) 21-19, 21-19
Yuki Fukushima (Japan)/Sayaka Hirota (Japan) beat Huang Yaqiong (China)/Yu Xiaohan (China) 21-13, 21-14
Mixed Doubles
Tang Chun Man (Hong Kong)/Tse Zing Suet (Hong Kong) beat Wang Yilyu (China)/Huang Dongping (China) 18-21, 21-18, 21-17.
Zheng Siwei (China)/Chen Qingchen (China) beat Tontowi Ahmad (Indonesia)/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia) 21-12, 21-17
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