PV Sindhu set to face An Se-young for BWF World Tour Finals title

Another Indian shuttler, Lakshya Sen crashed out of the tournament on Saturday.

PV Sindhu beat the odds to move into the final of the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 after defeating Japanese shuttler Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles semi-finals. The World No. 7 had to really grind her way to do it but showcased immense character to oust her long-time foe.

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist started the clash in a confident fashion and displayed her dominance in the first game. She repeatedly forced Yamaguchi into errors and broke her multiple times. PV Sindhu ended up winning the first game 21-15, taking a commendable lead early in the match.

However, the Japanese shuttler hit back hard in the next game. Yamaguchi found her swagger after losing the first game and forced Sindhu into the back foot. With some impressive work, Yamaguchi fought her way to win the second game by the margin of 21-15 as well, setting up a grand finish.

In the decisive final set, neither women wanted to relent. The match got extremely competitive with both so hungry to win and the duo produced some excellent back-and-forth exchanges to impress audiences. PV Sindhu stuck to her resolve and ended up grinding her way to claiming the third game, winning the match 21-15, 15-21, 21-19 to move into the final. The Indian shuttler will now face South Korean teenager An Se-young.

The 19-year-old pulled off a huge upset to knock out top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong in the semi-finals and set up a date with PV Sidhu, who is seeking to win her second BWF World Tour title.

Lakshya Sen falls to top seed Axelsen

In the men’s singles semi-finals encounter, Lakshya Sen wasn’t able to pull off any kind of an upset. He fell to a disappointing 13-21, 11-21 loss to the top seed Viktor Axelsen and was knocked out of the BWF World Tour Finals.

Sen never really got into the groove to really trouble the Danish shuttler and was overwhelmed by his opponents’ dominant attacking style. The Indian shuttler actually started the match on the front foot, winning some key early points to keep Axelsen on his guard. However, Viktor quickly got control of the game and just didn’t let up after that. Thanks to some emphatic winners, he stormed to win the first game by the margin of 21-13, leaving his opponent exhausted.

In the second game, Axelsen started in an extremely dominant fashion and looked to be completely running away with things. He went into a lead of 14-3 at one point, but Sen showed resolve to try and mount a comeback. While Lakshya did get some points back, there was no stopping the confidence Dane on the day. Axelsen stormed to win the game and the match to storm into the final.

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