Daily Times

NEW DELHI: India’s PV Sindhu Saturday stormed into the final of the India Open badminton tournament to set up a exciting women’s singles title clash with top-seeded Carolina Marin in New Delhi. Sindhu, 21, served past second-seeded Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea 21-18, 14-21, 21-14 in the semi-finals that lasted one hour and 16 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. The lanky Sindhu, who outplayed her senior compatriot Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinals, has slowly emerged as India’s star shuttler. Sindhu displayed admirable maturity against world number four Hyun in the last-four encounter, as she fought back after losing the second game in front of a raucous home crowd. Earlier third-ranked Marin, 23, had an easy semi-final outing to outplay Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, seeded fourth, 21-16, 21-14. In men’s action, third-seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark eased past Hong Kong’s NG Ka Long Angus 21-12, 21-13 to book his berth in the Superseries final. Axelsen, ranked fourth in the world, will meet seventh-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, who beat Danish player Anders Antonsen 21-17, 21-14.