Guangzhou (China), December 15: India's PV Sindhu reached her second consecutive BWF World Tour Finals after beating Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon 21-16, 25-23 in the semifinal here on Saturday while it was curtains for Sameer Verma.
In what is virtually a reapeat of last year's title clash, Sindhu will take on Nozomi Okuhara in the final on Sunday, after the Japanese shuttler beat compatriot Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-14 in the other last-four encounter.
Okuhara had prevailed over Sindhu in an epic final last year and Sindhu will be hoping for a better luck this time.
It was Sindhu's thrid straight win against Intanon. The match lasted just 54 minutes.
Sindhu storms into the #WorldTourFinals
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 15, 2018
What a journey it has been so far; take a look once again, guys!
1st Match: Bt Akane Yamaguchi
2nd Match: Tai Tzu Ying
3rd Match: Beiwen Zhang
Semi: Ratchanok Intanon
And now set for the summit clash with #NozomiOkuhara! #IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/c4jEvqNNlX
Sindhu who beat Zhang Beiwen in the semifinals, has been in terrific form since the start of the season-ending tournament featuring the eight top players as per the BWF rankings.
However, the Rio Games silver medallist has not won a single title this year despite having appeared in five finals including the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Standing between Sindhu and victory is world No.5 Okuhara, who had also defeated Sindhu in the 2017 World Championships final.
Meanwhile, India's hopes for a second finalist was dashed as Verma lost 21-12, 20-22, 17-21 to China's Shi Yuqi after a long-fought battle in the men's semifinal.
Verma had defeated beat Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-9, 21-18 en route to making the semis to finish second in his group, behind world champion Kento Momota of Japan.
But in the semifinals, the local boy proved too good for Verma, who had only himself to blame after taking the first game.
The thrilling semifinal lasted an hour and eight minutes. Verma saved three match points before going down finally.