BIRMINGHAM: India’s ace PV Sindhu lost her semi-final encounter last night against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi at the prestigious All England Open Championships despite exhibiting top-class fitness under incredibly testing conditions.
Yamaguchi held her nerves to register a hard-fought three-game victory 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in a gripping semi-final.
Yamaguchi will now meet World No 1 and defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in today’s final. Tai Tzu defeated China’s Chen Yufei 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 in the other semi-final.
Meanwhile, a fast and enterprising performance from fleet-footed 22-year-old Shi Yuqi ensured that China will win back the men’s singles title.
Shi overcame Son Wan Ho, the fifth-seeded Korean to reach the final of the famous 118-year-old tournament with a 21-17, 21-14 win.
Son may have been blunted by two gruelling three-game tussles in the past three days and the fresher Shi was quick to take advantage once he was able to snap out an error-strewn start that saw him fall 7-11 behind in the first game and 5-9 in the second.
Shi hit top form with a seven-point sequence in the middle of the second game to decisively swing the match in his favour.
His success followed a surprisingly comfortable victory over China’s Olympic champion Chen Long on Friday, and offers the chance of redemption after being blown away by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in last year’s final.
“My form is getting better and better,” Shi said.
“In the final I hope I can do better than last year. This time I will be playing one of my team mates, so I will be able to prepare for specific details.”