In a rematch of the 2016 Rio Olympic women’s singles final, Indian badminton sensation PV Sindhu came out firing to upset the Olympic champion and World No. 2 Carolina Marin at the Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016 on Friday. The World No. 10 hardly ever put a foot wrong and finished strong with a 21-17, 21-13 win over the Spaniard in 46 minutes.
With this win, the 21-year-old also progressed into the semi-finals of this elite season-ending event on her debut.
The Pullela Gopichand protégé will get to meet either the Group A winner Sung Ji Hyun or her own group B leader Sun Yu for a place in the final. She will only know her opponent after a draw is held later in the day.
Sindhu came into this match, needing an outright win over the Spaniard. Marin’s chances were over after having lost both her group matches to Sun Yu and Akane Yamaguchi. The Indian had begun her Superseries Finals challenge by beating Yamaguchi but succumbed to a straight-games loss to the in-form Sun Yu yesterday.
With the Chinese having already assured herself of a semi-final berth, the battle for the No. 2 spot was between Sindhu and Yamaguchi.
Only a win by the China Open champion could prevent the second seeded Japanese from progressing into the last-four.
And Sindhu came totally prepared for the victory. She brought forth the courage and confidence that she had shown all through the Asian swing, giving Marin absolutely no chance to settle into the match.
The first half of the first game saw a trend of Marin going up with Sindhu doing the hard work of catching up. The Spanish southpaw looked far from her best and could never build on any advantage that she got.
Sindhu came back from 4-7 down to level 7-7 before taking a slender 11-10 lead at the interval.
With some excellent retrieval skills coupled with some fabulous attack, the Indian soared higher and higher post-break and reached 20-14 in no time. Marin grabbed a few points to reduce the deficit but Sindhu proved to be strong as she wrapped it up 21-17.
Much to the delight of the pro-Indian crowd, the second game was completely one-way traffic with the dominant Sindhu hardly ever relinquishing her lead. She jumped to 11-6 at the lemon break and then extended it to 19-12 before slamming it shut.
