PV Sindhu enters Korea Open final, faces Okuhara

HYDERABAD: Three weeks after the heart-breaking loss in the World Championships final, PV Sindhu will get a chance to avenge that defeat as she squares up against world champion Nozomi Okuhara in the summit clash of the Korea Open Super Series in Seoul.

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The two 22-year-olds, who were involved in the second longest match of women's singles at the Worlds final, are expected to entertain the crowd once again at another major final. The young shuttlers, who are tipped to dominate world badminton in the next couple of years, have registered contrasting victories in the semi-finals on Saturday.

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While fifth seed Sindhu needed three games to get past sixth seed He Bingjiao of China in one hour and six minutes 21-10, 17-21, 21-16, Okuhara had an easy outing against her teammate Akane Yamaguchi in just 38 minutes 21-17, 21-18.

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However, there is a little chance of another energy sapping long final on Sunday. It's a fact that both the shuttlers hardly got any time to recover after the Worlds and Okuhara made it clear that she is not sure of her physical condition. "I haven't had much of a break after winning the World Championships. I wasn't sure of my physical condition when I arrived. I just had to take it step by step, match by match. Tomorrow, I have a chance to win my third straight title after winning the Australian Open and the World Championships, and I hope I can achieve that," Okuhara said.

Sindhu has a 3-4 win-loss record against Okuhara but the latter is a tough customer to negotiate on slow courts. Rather than engaging her in long rallies Sindhu may resort to an aggressive approach against Okuhara in the final on Sunday.

In the semi-final, Sindhu worked hard against Binjiao. Despite losing to Binjiao five times in eight meetings and losing the second game Sindhu dominated the Chinese rival in the first and the third games.

The lanky Indian was off in a flash with 9-1 lead and sealed the first game winning it 21-10.

In the second game Sindhu was zooming ahead with a 9-3 lead before Binjiao wiped off the deficit and caught up with the Indian at 15-15. At this stage committed some unforced errors as two of her drops crashed into the net and a couple of drives fell wide off the court. This allowed Binjiao to win the second game at 21-17.

Sindhu played cautiously in the decider and from 9-9 she moved ahead of her rival. Once Sindhu secured a 16-12 lead, a tense Binjiao got nervous and made mistakes by hitting the shuttle wide and long. It helped Sindhu to move to 19-15 lead and the Indian sealed the issue with a net chord.

With this victory, Sindhu is just one step away from claiming her third Super Series title. "It was a tough match today. Have to play a number of long rallies. I could have wrapped up in the second game itself, even though I was leading she came back and won the game. But in the third set I did well from the start," Sindhu told TOI.