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Indian badminton player PV Sindhu beat Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21-15, 15-21, 21-19 in the women's singles semi-finals at the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 in Bali, Indonesia, on Saturday.
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Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will face South Korea's An Seyoung, who beat Thai top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong 25-23, 21-17 in the other semis, in the final.
The clash was PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi's fourth meeting of the year. While PV Sindhu beat the Japanese shuttler at the All England Open. And the Tokyo Olympics quarter-finals, Yamaguchi came out on top in the most recent meeting – the Indonesia Masters semi-finals.
The match was off to an exciting start with the momentum constantly shifting between the two players. However, it was the reigning badminton world champion PV Sindhu who took a two-point advantage into the first game's midway interval.
PV Sindhu's success
The neck-and-neck battle continued after the restart with the Indian, who won the event in 2018. Only just managing to hold onto her slender lead against the Japanese. With the score at 15-14, though, PV Sindhu found a higher gear. And two clusters of three points each helped her close the opening game 21-15.
The second game started with both players producing some excellent winners. But this time it was the Japanese who ended with a solitary point lead midway through.
Read also: BWF World Tour Finals badminton: India's PV Sindhu in semi-finals after winning over Yvonne Li
Akane Yamaguchi's tempo only quickened once play resumed and the Japanese player kept extending her lead slowly. And take the second game to level things up.
With a title shot on the line, both players went in all guns blazing in the decider. Down 4-5 at one stage, PV Sindhu rallied to win the next eight points on the trot and turned the tide of the game in her favour.
Later in the day, Indian youngster Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, lost 21-13, 21-11 to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men's singles semis.