Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu stayed on course for an elusive gold medal after progressing to her second successive women’s singles final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Indian rode on her superior technical superiority to outwit Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 21-19, 21-17 in a 49-minute contest.
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A former world champion, Sindhu, who has a silver and a bronze from the 2018 and 2014 editions, was clearly the better player on display as she kept a firm grip on the match.
Sindhu seemed a bit restricted in her movement with the achilles of her left leg strapped. The Singaporean played some good-looking shots to make it 8-4 early on but she was callous to allow the Indian draw level.
Sindhu entered the break with a two-point lead after producing a straight drop.
The Indian depended on her technical acumen, producing the right shots at the right time to keep moving ahead.
Yeo Jia Min was too erratic to put any pressure on the Indian, who moved to 19-12 with a perfect net shot.
The Singaporean used her cross court slices to trouble the Indian, making her move diagonally to reduce the gap to 16-19. But a forehand return going to net from her gave Sindhu three game points, and she converted it on the third attempt.
Yeo made a good start once again after the change of ends, but Sindhu reeled off five straight points to again draw parity.
It turned into a seesaw battle after that with the two playing some intense rallies, but Sindhu ensured she had her nose ahead at the interval as she unleashed a straight down-the-line smash.
A wide return and one going to net put Sindhu two points away from the final. Then Yeo going long gave Sindhu five match points. She squandered two before unleashing a pitch-perfect body smash to secure her place in the final.
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