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By defeating Chen Yufei of China in straight sets, PV Sindhu has entered the summit clash of Dubai World Super Series Finals. She also has a brilliant chance of creating history by completing the task left unfinished by her compatriot Saina Nehwal in 2011.
In 2011, Nehwal, who had been riding high on successes in various BWF Grand Prix tournaments and a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games the previous year, was struggling to find form for herself. She had also crashed out of the BWF World Championships without giving any serious challenge at all.
Also Read: Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017 - PV Sindhu emulates Saina Nehwal’s feat by reaching the final
However, Nehwal bounced back at the BWF Super Series Final by defeating Tine Baun of Denmark in straight sets. She had become the first Indian shuttler ever to enter the final of the singles event. The Hisar-born player missed the gold medal by a whisker as she lost to Wang Yihan of China by 21-18, 13-21, 13-21.
Six years later, Sindhu's journey has been almost identically the same. She has managed to win all the matches in her journey to the finals. An added bonus, she has also previously defeated her opponent for the final.
IOn paper, Sindhu has a strategic lead of 5-2 over Akane Yamaguchi. Adding to that, in the final league match of Group A in this tournament, Sindhu obliterated her challenge in straight sets. Even though Yamaguchi is ranked number two as of now, her performance was not much to write home about.
However, the final will be nothing less than an acid test for Sindhu. In recent times, she has seemed to develop a final phobia. During a span of the last two years, she lost both the Olympic gold and the World Championship by narrow margins to Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara respectively. All will be forgotten if she prevails over Yamaguchi on Sunday to add another feather to Indian badminton's illustrious history.
