Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu reached her first final of the year after a straight-games victory over Singapore's Yeo Jia Min at the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 tournament, in Madrid, on Saturday.
The second seed Sindhu toiled hard for 48 minutes to pull off a 24-22, 22-20 win over the lowly-ranked Singaporean shuttler in an intensely fought women's singles semifinals.
Sindhu went into the match with a 4-0 head-to head record against Min.
Trailing 15-20, Sindhu showed immense fighting spirit as she saved seven game points to take the first game 24-22.
She used the body smash to great effect and converted the only game point opportunity she had.
In the second game, the Indian ace trailed 1-4 before opening a five-point lead at 11-6.
World No. 33 Min, however, played a gorgeous drop shot to level the scores at 17.
Sindhu then had two match-points but Min saved both before driving one wide and giving the Indian her third match-point.
This time Sindhu made no error as Min found the net.
This is Sindhu's first final since winning the gold and the Commonwealth Games last year.
She will face Indonesia's Gregoria Tunjung, who beat local favourite and top seed Carolina Marin 10-21, 21-15, 21-10 in the second semi-final.
The victory will come as a huge morale boost for Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this season since returning to action following a long injury lay- off.
Sindhu has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since November 2016.
She made a first round exit from the prestigious All-England Championships and failed to defend her Swiss Open Super 300 badminton title earlier this month.
She also made first-round exits at the Indian Open and Malaysia Open in January.
