Odense: Ace Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu on Saturday made it to her maiden Super Series final with a stunning victory over reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the Denmark Open here.
The unseeded Indian beat the world No. 2 and All-England champion Marin 21-15, 18-21, 21-17 in a closely-fought semi-final that lasted one hour and 14 minutes at Odense Sports Park in the $650,000 Super Series Premier event here.
This was 20-year-old Hyderabadi's first win against Marin in their last four outings.
Sindhu, a twice bronze medallist in World Championships, will now take on former world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui - ranked fourth in the tournament - of China in the summit clash on Sunday.
Xuerui had beaten Korean seventh seed Sung Ji Hyun 21-8, 20-22, 21-10 in the other semi-final. Sindhu had never gone past the semi-finals in the Super Series or Super Series Premier events.
Both Sindhu and Marin began the match on an equal footing before the Indian grabbed five points on the trot to cruise to a 8-3 lead before Marin closed the gap gradually.
Sindhu, the lone surviving Indian, kept the lead as the two rivals exchanged their services for a while before the Indian took four straight points to reach to game point before pocketing the first set 21-15.
It was Marin who began the second set on a bright note as she took the early lead but the Indian fought back immediately to make it 3-3 and then 5-3 by winning four straight points.
But suddenly, Sindhu lost her concentration as world number two Marin made it 6-6 before zooming to 11-6 by taking five points on the trot.
Sindhu had advanced to the semi-finals after defeating former world No.1 Chinese Wang Yihan in straight games.
Sindhu, who had lost to Yihan -- a 2011 World Champion and silver medallist at 2012 London Olympics -- four times in the past, dished out a 21-18 21-19 win over the sixth seed in a match that lasted 45 minutes
Sindhu came into the quarter-finals with a 1-4 record against Yihan. The only time she had beaten the Chinese was at the World Championships in 2013 but the Indian produced a superb game to completely leave Yihan clueless.
(Agencies)
