Sindhu advances to Macau Open final

Two-time defending champion P V Sindhu stood just one win away from completing a hat-trick of titles at the Macau Open after she advanced to finals of the event with a gruelling three-game triumph over second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan here on Saturday.

World No. 12 Sindhu triumphed 21-8 15-21 21-16 in a contest which lasted an hour and three minutes to make the summit clash of the USD 120,000 event.The two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, who is seeded fifth here, Sindhu will next square off against the winner of the match between He Bingjiao of China and sixth-seeded Japanese Minatsu Mitani. 

Sindhu was off to a fantastic start on Saturday as she pocketed the opening game in a mere 14 minutes. But Yamaguchi did not let the Indian run away with it and roared back into the contest to claim the second game.  The World No. 9 went neck-and-neck with the Indian till 15-15 before breaking away to draw level. Sindhu raised her tempo in the decisive third game and raced to an 11-5 lead.