P.V. Sindhu beat China's Chen Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14 in the semifinal of the 2019 World Championships on Saturday to reach the final for the third consecutive year. After winning the silver in the last two years, Sindhu will hope to cross the final hurdle for the first time on Sunday.
A dominant Sindhu beat Chen in straight games in a one-sided semifinal and will take on the winner of other semifinal between Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara in the final tomorrow. The top-ranked Indian came into the game with a 5-3 record over her opponent and dismantled her within 40 minutes.
World number five Sindhu roared to a 11-3 lead in the first half of the first game against the world number three. An uncharacteristically error-prone first game from the Chinese star left her frustrated as Sindhu made the most of the momentum to end it 21-7.
Though Chen put on a better show at the start of the second set, by the time Sindhu took it to 11-7, Chen had still not won two consecutive points in the game until then. Sindhu went on to dominate the final lap as a hapless Chen tried everything to stop the charge, but failed.
To put this victory in perspective, Sindhu is yet to win a title in 2019, while Chen has already won the All-England Championship, the Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Australia Open. With the victory, it now means that Sindhu has never lost to a Chinese opponent in her six appearances at the World Championships. She beat Chen in the semifinal of the same event in 2017 on her way to a silver medal.
On Friday, Sindhu had beaten world number two and Asian Games gold medallist Tai Tzu Ying, from Chinese Taipei, 12-21, 23-21, 21-19 in a quarterfinal that lasted 71 minutes. Losing the first game, Sindhu played one of her best matches at the Championships to make a stunning comeback.
At 24, Sindhu is one of the most successful players in the tournament's history, having won back-to-back silvers (2017, 2018) and bronzes (2013, 2014). With the quarterfinal win this year, she equalled former player Zhang Ning's record for most number of Worlds medals by a female shuttler. She was assured a fifth-consecutive medal at the event, after she beat Tzu Ying. Winning the final will seal her status as a legend at the event.
The 2019 edition of the world championship, being held in Basel, also has another Indian semifinalist in B. Sai Praneeth in the men's singles event. Praneeth is the first male player since Prakash Padukone (1983) to be guaranteed a medal at the annual event.
Praneeth's match against world number one Kento Momota is the third of the day, the first of which was Sindhu's. The other women's singles semifinal will immediately follow Praneeth's match.