Korean Open: Sindhu beats Bingjiao in semis, faces Nozomi Okuhara in final

Seoul: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu entered the final of Korean Open Super Series after a hard-fought 21-10,17-21, 21-16 victory over China's He Bingjiao here on Saturday.

The eighth-seeded Indian will now face Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who defeated Sindhu, in the BWF World Badminton Championship final last month.

Okuhara defeated Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-18 in the semifinal clash.

Sindhu entered the semifinal after defeating Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 in the quarterfinals on Friday. On the other hand, He Bingjiao of China had beaten South Korean third seed Sung Ji Hyun 21-19, 16-21, 21-19 in her quarterfinal encounter.

Before the match, Sindhu's head-to-head record against Bingjiao was 3-5 , but the Indian started brightly and took control of the game from the beginning against her Chinese opponent. Bingjiao played a series of bad shots helping Sindhu to claim the first game 21-10.

The second game saw Sindhu take 3-point cushion over Bingjiao. The Indian led 11-6 at the mid-game break, but despite her Chinese struggling to find her feet in the match, she fought back valiantly to level the score at 15-15 and finally take the second game 21-17 after a slip-up from Sindhu.

The third and the deciding game was a tightly contested affair between the two. Sindhu took a 5-3 lead, while her opponent continued to claw her way back into the game by keeping the deficit to just one point. At the break Sindhu lead Bingjiao 11-9. After the interval, Sindhu extended her lead over Bingjiao to three points.

The Indian kept the pressure on her opponent and did not allow her to make a comeback like she did in the second game and in the end, she won the game set and match 21-16 to enter the final.

The Hyderabadi shuttler Sindhu will once again face-off against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the final on Sunday.