PV Sindhu defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21-16, 24-22 in 54 minutes on Saturday to make the final of the World Championships for the second consecutive year. In the final, Sindhu will face Spain's Carolina Marin, who defeated the Indian in the Rio Olympic final two years ago.
Sindhu began in a similarly slow fashion as she had in the quarterfinal against Nozomi Okuhara, her conqueror in last year's final, losing the first five points of the opening game before getting on the scoreboard. Slowly but surely, the Indian found her groove, cutting Yamaguchi's lead down to one point at the changeover.
After the break, Sindhu seemed to increase her level by a notch, just like she had against Okuhara on Friday, working Yamaguchi around the court with drop shots and long lifts before pulling the trigger on her smashes. From 12-12, the Indian won six consecutive points to take control of the game, bringing up five game points with a couple of body smashes and converting on her first opportunity.
Yamaguchi, whose two previous wins against Sindhu both came in three games, seemed determined to take the match to a decider and alert to the possibility of a Sindhu fightback, staving off a mini rally from the Indian to go into the break leading 11-7. Yamaguchi stepped up her level of aggression in the second game, refusing to get stuck into rallies and going for smashes every time even a half-chance presented itself. Sindhu, whose sharpness and intensity seemed to have dropped a shade as compared to the first game, fought back but Yamaguchi managed to stay in front.
Leading 19-13 and with a decider looking inevitable, Sindhu began a last fightback. The Indian showed increased urgency and aggression in a run of eight straight points, going from 19-12 down to having a match point at 20-19. Yamaguchi did well to save a couple of match points and played an excellent rally to bring up a game point of her own, but couldn't string together consecutive points. The Japanese wasted her game point with a service error and then hit a forehand wide to concede a third match point, which Sindhu finally won at the net to complete the win.