India's last hope at the All England Championships was dashed when P.V. Sindhu lost 21-19 19-21 18-21 to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a thrilling women's singles semifinal match, which lasted for close to an hour and a half.
Though Sindhu, 22, had won six of their previous nine encounters, she was outplayed by her younger opponent, who overcame 2016 Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin in the quarterfinals.
Sindhu started off on an aggressive note, storming to a 6-0 lead in the first set. Though the Japanese regained her composure, Sindhu went into the break with a five-point lead. However, after the break, the world no. 2 settled into her rhythm, forcing Sindhu into long rallies. Her deceptiveness at the net allowed her to stage a brilliant comeback, catching up with the Indian star shuttler at 17 points.
Sindhu, however, managed to hold her nerve and closed out the game 21-19 with a brilliant smash down the centre.
It was a neck-to-neck fight thereafter, with the Japanese testing Sindhu with her tricky drop shots and frustrating the Indian with the sheer audacity of her retrievals and returns. The scores remained level for much of the second set, with Yamaguchi going into the break 11-9. She managed to hold on to the lead to win the second game 21-19.
With the game going to the decider set, it boiled down to the players' patience and stamina. Sindhu started off well, going into the break 11-7, raising hopes of a historic entry into the final of the USD 1000,000 tournament. However, it was not to be, as Sindhu, who had to endure three-game matches en route to the semifinals, could not match up to the 20-year-old Yamaguchi despite giving it her all. Two 44-shot rallies and one 51-shot rallies summed up the nature of the hard-fought contest between the no. 2 and 3 players in the world.
More unforced errors followed from the Indian, allowing Yamaguchi to level the score at 16 all. The sheer relentlessness of Yamaguchi's attack broke Sindhu's resolve, as the Japanese sealed the game 21-18 and the match with a smash down the line.
Yamaguchi will now take on defending champion and world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ting in the final. Tai Tzu defeated eighth seed Chen Yufei of China 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 earlier in the day.