Guwahati, Feb 15: P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won their respective semifinals in contrasting fashion to set up a mouth-watering women’s singles summit showdown at the 83rd Yonex-Sunrise Senior National Championship here Saturday.
In a repeat of last edition’s title clash at Nagpur, the two stalwarts will look to outdo each other and write another chapter in their on-field rivalry.
While Sindhu overcame a challenge from Assam’s promising 19-year-old Ashmita Chaliha 21-10 22-20 in the first semifinal, Saina got the better of Nagpur qualifier Vaishnavi Bhale, who was part of India’s Uber Cup squad last year, 21-15 21-14 to storm into the finals.
Saina had the last laugh against Sindhu in the last two encounters at the Nagpur Nationals in 2017 and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold-medal match last year.
While Saina has won the title in 2006, 2007 and 2018, Sindhu clinched the trophy twice, in 2011 and 2013.
“It will be just another match and I don’t think it will help me for All England, I will just look to focus and give my best,” Sindhu said about the final.
Two-time former champion Sourabh Varma, 26, too sealed his spot in the men’s singles final after beating Mumbai’s Kaushal Dharmamer 21-14 21-17 in 44 minutes.
Earlier in the day, former champions Saina, Kashyap and Sourabh advanced to the semifinals with contrasting wins.
The three-time former champion Saina hardly broke a sweat to get the better of former India No 1 Neha Pandit of Mumbai 21-10, 21-10 in a lop-sided quarter-final contest.
Kashyap, a 2012 winner, prevailed 21-18 21-16 over Bodhit Joshi, who had reached the finals of Iceland International last year.
Both Saina and Kashyap had played their pre-quarterfinal match on Thursday night at the newly-laid wooden court of the TRP Indoor Stadium after refusing to play at the Assam Badminton Academy courts due to “uneven” surface.
Former World No. 30 Verma, who had clinched Super 100 titles at Russia Open and Dutch Open last year, eked out a hard-fought 21-11 21-23 21-18 win over B Sai Praneeth. (PTI)
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