India’s PV Sindhu entered her first final in more than two years after China’s Chen Yufei retired due to an injury midway through their women’s singles semifinal at the Japan Open here on Saturday.
The Indian shuttler was in control of the tie, with the score at 21-19, 15-10 in her favour, when Chen was forced off the court due to a hamstring injury.
“I’m very happy that I’ve gone to the final,” Sindhu said after the match.
“For me, every match mattered a lot from the first match, especially today’s match. It was important from the beginning to be focused because when you play with the top-ranked players, it’s important that every point matters, so winning that first game really mattered a lot.”
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Sindhu will now face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the summit clash on Sunday.
This will be Sindhu’s first final since winning the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in 2024. Her last major title came at the Singapore Open Super 500 in 2022.
Sindhu appeared to be at her dominant best against Chen, forcing the Tokyo Olympics champion to scramble with thumping smashes and delicate net plays.
The 31-year-old Sindhu took off early and held a four-point advantage for most of the first game. But Chen stormed back and was level at 19-19, before Sindhu closed off the game.
“I was very focused and my coach kept saying because I was leading the first game and then she came quite close it was important that I be more focused because sometimes when you’re leading and you give away points you suddenly get disheartened, so a lot of emotions go in your head,” Sindhu said.
“My coach was saying that it doesn’t matter just focus on the next point and I think that really helped. Even in the second set there were long rallies and especially in the first game that long rally which happened and I won the rally I think that one was very important for me,” she added.
Sindhu continued on the same verve in the second game and looked set for a straight-game win with the score at 15-10.
“In the second game as well I was focused from the first point because it was going quite equal and even though I was two points leading, she was covering and coming back and I think after 11, I was maintaining that three four points but yeah unfortunately she had to retire.”
WITH INPUTS FROM PTI
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Published on Jul 18, 2026