DUBAI: Already assured of a semi-final spot, Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu continued her rampaging run with a straight-game demolition of World No 2 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi at the $1million Dubai Superseries Finals yesterday.
World No 3 Sindhu thrashed Yamaguchi 21-9, 21-13 in just 36 minutes to top Group ‘A’ in women’s singles at the Shaikh Hamdan Indoor Stadium here. This was her last group stage match.
Sindhu, who clinched two Super Series titles this season before winning a silver at the World Championship, will today face China’s Chen Yufei in the semi-final.
Chen saw off Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon 21-18, 13-21, 21-18 in a Group ‘B’ match.
Anticipation
The 22-year-old Indian showed great anticipation and athleticism to completely dominate the proceedings even as Akane got buried under a heap of unforced errors in the last Group ‘A’ women’s singles match.
Before the match, Sindhu had a 4-2 head-to-head record against Akane, which included a win at the Hong Kong Super Series last month.
Sindhu made a rousing start to the match, zooming to a 5-0 lead. An error at the net allowed Yamaguchi to break it before Sindhu wrested back the serve. The Japanese was effected by a series of unforced errors as she sent the shuttle flying wide and long.
Sindhu entered the opening break at 11-1 with a superb return and continued to rule the roost after the breather, reaching 15-4. Yamaguchi won points sporadically, exploiting the Indian’s backhand a couple of times, but she failed to curb her unforced errors.
At 18-6, Sindhu committed a fault at the net but she followed that with a smash and gained 13 game points when her opponent went wide again.
Akane saved a couple of game points before Sindhu wrapped up the opening game with a delightful cross court drop.
The second game started on an equal footing with Sindhu and Akane splitting the initial four points after engaging in some fierce rallies.