Madrid: India’s women’s singles World No. 11 PV Sindhu moved one step closer to her first title of the year when she produced an absolutely breathtaking match by beating Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 24-22, 22-20 on Saturday to enter the Spain Masters final.
When she was trailed 15-20 in the first game, Sindhu staged a remarkable comeback by saving seven-game points before winning the game 24-22.
The 27-year-old almost lost the second game when Yeo came back from 18-20 to tie the game 20-20 before Sindhu wrapped up the match in her third match point when Yeo’s shot found the net and Sindhu won 22-20.
Sindhu will next take on World No. 12 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia. Tunjung, on the other hand, beat World No. 7 and home-favorite Carolina Marin, 10-21, 21-15, 21-10 in a one-hour battle.
Sindhu held a 7-0 career head-to-head lead against Tunjung before Sunday’s final.
Both men’s singles semi-finals were equally exciting as both No. 1 seed Kenta Nishimoto and No. 2 seed Kanta Tsuneyama were pushed to the limit by their respective opponents before reaching the final.
Nishimoto edged past No. 8 seed Toma Junior Popov of France 21-10, 15-21, 23-21 in 79 minutes while Tsuneyama overcame Anders Antonsen 22-20, 20-22, 21-18 in a one hour 29 minutes match.
Taiwan’s Lee Fang-Chih and Lee Fang-Jen who upset World No. 1 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals, continued their strong momentum to beat compatriots Su Ching Heng/Ye Hong Wei 22-20, 21-19 to meet He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong of China in the men’s doubles final.
Meanwhile, Chen Fang Hui/Du Yue and Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning have set up an all-Chinese women’s doubles final on Sunday while Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indoneisa will play Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Bøje of Denmark for the mixed doubles title.
