India’s P.V. Sindhu entered the final of the Indonesia Open BWF Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament with a straight-game win over All England champion Chen Yufei of China here on Saturday.
Sindhu showed her brilliance once again as she saw off World No. 3 Chen 21-19, 21-10 to enter her first final of the season.
The World No. 5 Indian, who reached the last four at Singapore and India Open this year, set up a summit clash with Japan’s fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi.
Sindhu holds a 10-4 advantage over Yamaguchi, whom she has defeated in their last four meetings.
Chen, who won the Australia, Swiss and All England this year, has been the most prolific player this season and looked good in the first game but a fighting Sindhu held her own and then completely dominated the second to seal a place in the final.
Long rally
The match started with a long rally but soon Sindhu fell behind at 7-4. The Indian then won five straight points as Chen played two bad shots. But a body smash helped the Chinese grab an 11-10 advantage at the break. Sindhu claimed seven of the last eight points to pocket the opening game.
Chen moved to 15-12 with a few good smashes. But Sindhu fought back and produced a precise return, and then Chen went wide before finding the net as the Indian erased the deficit and made it 18-18. Sindhu caught the shuttle early and produced an acute angled return near the net to grab a one-point lead. But she went wide off the next and it was 19-19.
Another rally ended with Chen failing to clear the net and it was advantage Sindhu. The Chinese player then left one at the backcourt, which landed in, and handed Sindhu the bragging rights.
In the second game, Chen zoomed to 4-0 lead but Sindhu again clawed back as the Chinese went long twice. Sindhu smashed hard and followed it with another one to put pressure on the Chinese, who again went long and Sindhu continued to gather points.
After seven straight points, Chen managed to push one at the back court to break the rhythm. A big smash to Chen’s serve gave another point to Sindhu. After a couple of missed opportunities, the India managed to claim a three-point advantage at the interval with a precise net return, which touched the tape on the way.
Crumbling
Chen then crumbled under pressure as she found the net and went wide to allow the Indian double her lead to 16-8. A fired up Sindhu dominated the proceedings from then on as Chen suddenly looked clueless.
Another smash took Sindhu closer and she sealed 11 match points when Chen misjudged a shuttle.
India’s campaign ends
At the Russian Open in Vladivostok, Meghana Jakkampudi lost both her mixed and women’s doubles matches as India’s campaign ended.
Meghana and Dhruv Kapila, seeded eighth, lost to Indonesia’s seventh seeds Adnan Maulana and Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso 21-6, 21-15 in the mixed doubles semifinal which lasted just 27 minutes.
In women’s doubles, Meghana and Poorvisha Ram failed to cross the last-four hurdle at the $75,000 tournament.
Fourth seeds Miki Kashihara and Miyuki Kato of Japan stunned the top-seeded Indian duo 21-10, 21-8 in 33 minutes.
