Dubai: India’s PV Sindhu dished out an all-around match to notch up a victory against 19-year-old Chen Yufei of China 21-15, 21-18 in the BWF Super Series semi-finals on Saturday.
In the match that lasted 59 minutes, both shuttlers played a reasonable tactical game plan where Sindhu was using her height to unleash ruthless smashes from the backcourt, while Chen was taking advantage of Sindhu’s front court weaknesses by hitting several deceptive drop shots. Sindhu started to gain control of the game after 11-11, and claimed it 21-15.
Chen produced some measured smashes to draw early lead in the second set but Sindhu used her speed and great anticipation to produce some sharp returns to reach 19-16. Chen closed the gap at 18-19 after winning a long rally but her own unforced errors at this vital point in the match saw Sindhu lifted her hands in the air in celebration by taking the second set 21-18.
Meanwhile, in the other women’s singles semi-finals, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan came back from 14-18 in the decider to beat Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 17-21, 21-12, 21-19 in a marathon match which lasted 72 minutes.
Yamaguchi had played Sindhu in the women’s singles Group A match where Sindhu needed only 36 minutes to ease past the Japanese 21-9, 21-13.
Below are all the semi-final matchups and results:
Men’s singles:
Viktor Axelsen (DEN) bt Shi Yuqi (CHN) 21-12, 21-8
Lee Chong Wei (MAS) bt Son Wan-ho (KOR) 21-17, 21-12
Women’s singles:
Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 17-21, 21-12, 21-19
Pusarla Sindhu (IND) bt Chen Yufei (CHN) 21-15, 21-18
Men’s doubles:
Marcus Gideon/Kevin Sukamuljo (INA) bt Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda (JPN) 21-10, 18-21, 21-16
Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan (CHN) bt Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) 21-17, 21-16
Women’s doubles:
Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN) bt Huang Yaqiong/Yu Xiaohan (CHN) 21-13, 21-14
Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto (JPN) bt Kamilla Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 21-19, 21-19
Mixed doubles:
Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (HK) bt Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping (CHN) 18-21, 21-18, 21-17
Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen (CHN) bt Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (INA) 21-12, 21-17
