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(4) PV Sindhu (WR #3) vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi (WR #2)
Head-to-head: Sindhu leads 6-3
Last meeting: Sindhu def Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-15 at the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2018 Group Match
Having edged the world champion Nozomi Okuhara in a scintillating quarter-final match at the All England Open 2018 on Friday, PV Sindhu faces yet another Japan challenge in her quest to reach the final of the world’s oldest badminton tournament for the first time.
This time her opponent is the second seed and World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi, who has a losing 3-6 head-to-head record against the Rio Olympic silver medallist.
In the last five months, the two have faced off as many as five times and Sindhu has a 3-2 edge in those matches. But their biggest and most talked-about clash was in the 2017 season’s final match at the Dubai World Superseries Finals final.
Since the World Championships in August, the 20-year-old Japanese has been on a hot streak and built the most consistent phase of her career. She won the China Open and reached the summit clashes in two other Superseries events.
Brimming with confidence, Yamaguchi rode on that momentum to claim the biggest title of her career in Dubai with a three-game win over Sindhu. Despite losing the opening game, she remained unfazed by the Sindhu attack and eventually tired out the lanky Indian with long rallies in typical Okuhara style.
Sindhu got to avenge that defeat in two months' time at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in February, where she did not drop a game. It won’t, however, be wise to read too much into that particular result for the circumstances at the All England Open are completely different.
The Indian has toiled hard in each of her three matches en route to the semi-finals and that could have a say in the final outcome of this clash. Having spent 3 hours 26 minutes already on the court, it won’t be fair to expect her to have a fresh pair of legs against a shuttler, who has played for just 2 hours 7 minutes.
Yamaguchi has been stretched to the distance only once so far and her 21-15, 21-18 hammering of former champion Carolina Marin in the quarter-finals was a breezy affair compared to the marathon that Sindhu and Okuhara orchestrated.
Okuhara’s strategy will thus be to repeat what she did at the Superseries Finals -- use her agility to keep Sindhu moving to every part of the court and engage her in long rallies before using her crosscourt forehand and her deception to grab the point.
Until and unless the Indian can assert her supremacy through her aggression and make continued efforts to keep the points short, it is difficult to see overcoming the Japanese barrier.
Here is all the information you need to know
Tournament name: Yonex All England Open 2018
Started in: 1899
Category: BWF World Tour Super 1000
Total prize money: $1,000,000
Venue: Arena Birmingham, UK
Round: Semi-finals
Date: Satuday, March 17, 2018
Schedule of India’s match:
Women’s singles -
(4) PV Sindhu vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi at 10.30pm IST
Channel: Star Sports 2 & Star Sports 2 HD
Live Streaming: Badmintonworld.tv on Youtube
Live Updates: On Sportskeeda
