Sindhu battles into Thailand Open final to face Okuhara

Fresh off her continued winning streak in Thaliand Open, Indian ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu earned herself a final berth on Saturday here after registering a three-set win over her Indonesia’s counterpart Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. Sindhu kept the Indian challenge alive in Bangkok, defeating Tunjung 23-21, 16-21, 21-9 in a match that lasted an hour.

Tunjung started off strongly in the first game till the lemon break with an 11-7 lead over Sindhu. However, the Rio Olympic silver-medalist soon bounced back as the game approached further. The hard-fought first game was leveled at 21-21 until Sindhu took the lead with her signature jump smash. The game ended in the Indian’s favour as Tunjung lost control of her disguised drop shot.

World No.3 Sindhu showed some variations in the second game to take a 9-5 lead. However, the lead was short lasting as Tunjung won six straight points with her well-timed shots to level the second set. Sindhu continued her poor show and made unforced errors as the Indonesian won the second game 21-16.

With a set-down, Sindhu started the deciding game on a powerful note and looked dominant throughout. The Indian challenged her opponent hard at the net which helped her widen the lead to 16-7. The Hyderabadi shuttler faced no trouble thereon as she sealed the game 21-9 to enter the final.

Second seed Sindhu will now lock horns with reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan who beat Beiwen Zhang of the United States 21-17, 21-10 in the other semi-final of the day.

Sindhu and Okuhara have met each other 10 times in their careers, with both winning equal number of matches. However, Sindhu could derive confidence from their only meeting this year at the All England Open quarterfinals in March which she won 20-22, 21-18, 21-18.