Title will put Sindhu in good stead in Birmingham

In the hunt: Indian star P.V. Sindhu is looking for her third title of the year at the Singapore Open.

PETALING JAYA: Capturing the Singapore Open title could prove to be the right tonic for Indian women’s singles ace P.V. Sindhu ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham from July 28-Aug 8.

Yesterday, the world No. 7 marched into the final with a commanding 21-15, 21-7 win over Japan’s Saena Kawakami in the semi-final.

Standing in her way is China’s world No. 11 Wang Zhiyi, who secured an equally dominant 21-14, 21-14 win over another Japanese Aya Ohori.

Sindhu is looking for her third title of the year after winning the Syed Modi Interna-tional in January and Swiss Open in March.Capturing the title in Singapore will put her in a good position as she looks to win her first individual gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, Zhiyi, who has been trying hard to make amends for losing the deciding match in the Uber Cup final in May to South Korea’s Sim Yu-jin, will be out to land her second title of the year after the Asian Championships in April.

But Sindhu holds a slight advantage over Zhiyi, having come out on top in their only encounter so far at the All-England in March.In men’s singles, Japan’s world No. 43 Kodai Naraoka sensationally made it into the final after stunning China’s world No. 26 Zhao Junpeng with a pulsating 21-18, 25-23 win in 50 minutes.

The Japanese had also took down Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie (No. 8) and India’s H.S. Prannoy (No. 19) en route to the final.

Naraoka will be up against either home favourite and reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew or another Indonesian, Anthony Ginting, in the title match today.

In the women’s doubles, Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti will meet China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu in a repeat of the Malaysian Open final two weeks ago where the former triumphed.

The men’s doubles final will see an-all Indonesian clash between Malaysian Masters champions Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and Hanoi SEA Games winners Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin.