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After three days of group play, the action shifts to the knockout stages at the BWF World Tour Finals in Bali, Indonesia, on Saturday, December 4.
PV Sindhu has a tough job on her hands as she faces her nemesis Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals. It will be a a rematch of their 2017 World Superseries Finals summit clash.
While Sindhu started her campaign with a couple of commanding wins, her unbeaten run came to an end on Friday at the hands of top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong. A 12-21, 21-19, 14-21 loss to the All England Open runner-up pushed her to second spot in the Group A standings.
It didn't affect Sindhu's progress, though, since she had already booked her place in the last four a day before. But it importantly brought her winning momentum to a screeching halt ahead of her crucial meeting with Yamaguchi and could dent her confidence level.
The 2018 champion needs to quickly go back to the drawing board and analyze her performance before taking on the Japanese. The two met at the very same venue just a couple of weeks ago, where the Indian lacked the energy to stay toe-to-toe with the World No. 3 and fell 13-21, 9-21.
Prior to that, Yamaguchi suffered a defeat to Sindhu twice this year at the All England Open and the Tokyo Olympics. However, the former World No. 1 has been a different player since the mega quadrennial Games, bagging a couple of titles and finishing as runner-up in one.
Yamaguchi kept that run going even at the BWF World Tour Finals this week, going a flawless 3-0 in the group stages. One of the wins was over World No. 6 An Seyoung who had toppled the Japanese in the Indonesia Masters final last month.
With Yamaguchi in such impeccable form, she will undoubtedly head into her clash with Sindhu as the favorite. She will make the Indian move all over the court before pulling the trigger. Until and unless the World No. 3 is tired, she has more chances of making it through this blockbuster clash thanks to her recent exploits.
BWF World Tour Finals 2021: Match details
Fixture: PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi.
Head-to-head: PV Sindhu leads Akane Yamaguchi 12-8 in the head-to-head. The Japanese beat the Indian 21-13, 21-9 in the semifinals of the Indonesia Masters just a couple of weeks ago.
Date: 4 December 2021.
Time: 5:00 pm local time, 2:30 pm IST.
Tournament: HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021.
Round: Semifinals.
Venue: Bali, Indonesia.
Category: Season-ending championships.
Prize money: $1,500,000.
BWF World Tour Finals 2021: TV schedule
The 2021 BWF World Tour Finals is being telecast live on the Star Sports Select 1 & Star Sports Select 1 HD TV channels.
BWF World Tour Finals 2021: Live streaming details
The 2021 BWF World Tour Finals can be live-streamed on the Disney+Hotstar app.
