Singapore Open badminton: India’s PV Sindhu makes third final of the year

Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu stormed into the women’s singles final at the Singapore Open 2022 on Saturday after seeing off Japanese shuttler Saena Kawakami in the semis.

PV Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, beat world No. 38 Saena Kawakami 21-15, 21-7 in her final four clash.

Former world champion PV Sindhu will face Chinese shuttler Wang Zhi Yi, who beat Japan’s Aya Ohori in the other semis, in Sunday’s final.

It will be the Tokyo bronze medallist’s third summit clash of 2022, having gone on to win both the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open BWF Super 300 titles in January and March, respectively. The Singapore meet, however, is a Super 500 tournament.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu started the match with intent and raced to a 7-2 lead after peppering her Japanese opponent with some well-placed smashes and deft drop shots.

However Kawakami, who got a walkover from top seed Tai Tzu Ying in the second round before upsetting Thai ace Pornpawee Chochuwong in the quarters, fought back and drew level at 11-11.

Just as it seemed the tide had turned in the Japanese player’s favour, though, PV Sindhu stepped on the pedal to take five of the final six points to pocket the game.

PV Sindhu took little time to stamp her authority in the second game and took a formidable 11-4 lead into the break.

After the restart, PV Sindhu continued to boss the proceedings despite occasional flashy winners from her Japanese opponent. In the end Sindhu pocketed the match comfortably in 31 minutes.

This was PV Sindhu’s third straight win over Saena Kawakami in head-to-head meetings.

PV Sindhu is the last remaining Indian badminton player at the Singapore Open. London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal had bowed out in the quarter-finals of women’s singles on Friday while HS Prannoy, in men’s singles, and MR Arjun/ Dhruv Kapila, in men’s doubles, had also bowed out in the final eight clash.