PV Sindhu has fulfilled her wish of changing the colour of her world championships medal by entering the final of the 2017 edition. A two-time bronze medallist in the past, Sindhu beat world No 10 Chen Yufei of China in straight games on Saturday to book her place in her first ever Worlds final. The fourth seeded Indian needed only 48 minutes to dispatch her opponent 21-13, 21-10.
Chen started off well and controlled the early exchanges, making Sindhu run around. The Chinese took a 7-4 lead in the first game before Sindhu moved up a gear and won the next three points to level the score.
The match heated up as Chen complained to the umpire that Sindhu’s racket had touched the net during an exchange but the foul was not given. Sindhu followed that up with a couple of great jump smashes, using her height to her advantage, and a wonderful drop shot to take a 11-8 lead into the mid-game interval.
It was more of the same after the break as Sindhu made Chen twist, turn and run around, winning six points in a row and extending her lead beyond the Chinese’s reach. The world No 4 won the game easily 21-13 in 22 minutes.
The Rio Olympics silver medallist oozed class in the second game as well as she won eight points in a row to start it before Chen got one back. Sindhu’s lead extended to 11-1 at the mid-game interval and there was no way back for the Chinese from there.
However, as Sindhu neared the 21-point mark, she lost a bit of her drive from before as Chen recovered some points. But there was no changing the fate of this match as Sindhu produced a 300-kph smash to floor Chen and keep a 10-point lead. She won the second game even more emphatically than the first, 21-10, to book her spot in the summit clash.
Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal’s hopes of reaching her second straight world championships final were dashed when she went down in three games to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.