After making a clean sweep of the group stages, PV Sindhu will play China’s Chen Yufei in the semis of the Dubai Superseries Finals
World No 3 Sindhu defeated Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-9, 21-13 in just 36 minutes to top Group A in women’s singles.
Sindhu, who clinched two Super Series titles this season before winning a silver at the World Championship, will on Saturday face China’s Chen Yufei, who saw off Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon 21-18, 13-21, 21-18 in the semi-finals.
The Japanese again narrowed it down to 8-9 before an accurate down-the-line smash and an error at the net by Yamaguchi helped Sindhu enter the lemon break with a three-point advantage.
Yamaguchi won points sporadically, exploiting the Indian’s backhand a couple of times, but she failed to curb her unforced errors.
At 18-6, Sindhu committed a fault at the net but she followed that with a smash and gained 13 game points when her opponent went wide again.
A deceptive return and another miscued stroke by Yamaguchi handed Sindhu seven match points and she sealed it with a quick reflex near the net.
After two straight losses, Srikanth stretched Shi Yuqi to the decider after grabbing the second game but he was no match to his opponent in the third game.
It turned out to be an anti-climax for Srikanth, who became the first Indian to win four Super Series title this season.