New Delhi: P.V. Sindhu scored an upset victory over top seed Sung Ji-hyun of Korea in a hard-fought three setter to storm into the women’s singles final of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Penang on Saturday.
Double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu survived some anxious moments before beating her world no. 8 Korean opponent 21-19, 12-21, 21-10 in a semi-final that lasted an hour and nine minutes.
The world no. 12 thus put herself on course for a fifth Grand Prix Gold event.
She had won the tournament in 2013 before bagging three more GP Gold tournament titles at the Macau Open (2013, 2014 and 2015).
The two players opened the first set neck-and-neck till they tied at 11-all.
From there, Sindhu nosed ahead by winning seven straight points. The Korean fought back but Sindhu did not let the advantage slip and took the game 21-19.
Sindhu, however, could not continue with the momentum in the second as she played catch-up against Sung. The Indian narrowed the gap to just one point at 10-11 but from there lost concentration and allowed the Korean to win seven straight points to concede the second set rather tamely at 12-21.
Sindhu saved the best for the last as she played brilliant badminton in the deciding game.
She led all through the decider after 3-all. From there, Sindhu won seven straight points to leave Sung far behind.
