Sun Yu edges past Sindhu to reach the Swiss Open final

Sun Yu

Nearly there, but nearly does not work in sport. PV Sindhu and Sun Yu set the stage alight with some scintillating badminton at the packed St. Jakobshalle in Basel as they fought a bitter battle for a place in the final of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold event. In the end, after 79 long minutes on court, the Chinese star prevailed 18-21, 21-12, 21-19 to earn a date with Yihan Wang in the finals on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the top seeded Yihan defeated Ji Hyun Sung 21-12, 21-9 to coast into the title round.

Sindhu made a belligerent start, as she hustled her 27th ranked opponent to take an 8-4 lead at the beginning of this promising match. But Yu, who beat Sindhu in the first round of the All England Championship last week, roared back to take seven of the next eight points to earn a two-point cushion at 11-9.

With the game evenly poised at 12-13, the world No. 9 found her range to subdue Yu with a barrage of attacking shots. It was to turn out to be the most rewarding passage of play for the Indian, who won six points on the run to jump ahead 18-13. Sun Yu worked her way back to within two points, but Sindhu managed to hold on to take the first game.

The Chinese wasted no time to retaliate, taking a 3-0 start to open the second game. Yu worked her way back into the match, gaining a seven-point cushion at 13-6. Having suffered at the aggression of her opponent in the first game, the Chinese started to draw Sindhu into lengthy rallies. The strategy paid off as Yu bothered Sindhu on her backhand flank to draw even with her opponent and force a decisive third game.

Sindhu hadn’t found the lead since the end of the first game and Yu retained an iron grip on the contest as she gained a comfortable perch at 6-2 in the decider. The gap stretched to five, as Yu pushed the game into the final stretch at 11-6. With time running out, Sindhu sought to seize the initiative only to suffer one untimely error after another.

The end game was near when Yu retained control, as she marched ahead to a commanding 17-12 lead. At 14-19, a determined Sindhu stirred passions high as she roused the packed galleries with a sequence of four straight points under clutch circumstances. But any hopes of a stirring reversal of fortunes were to be denied.

Sindhu saved the first match point, at 20-18, with a thundering smash winner to keep the match alive. But Yu shut down the Indian’s rousing last minute effort, when she finished the match with the aid of a let that left Sindhu with no real option other than stretching her hand in defeat.

The victory in the semifinal helped Yu earn a chance at avenging her second round defeat at All England, where she lost to Yihan Wang. The final will be played on Sunday.