Thailand Masters: Devika Sihag enters final after stunning win over Chinese Taipei's Huang Yu Hsun
Bangkok, January 31
India's Devika Sihag entered the final of the ongoing Thailand Masters event after she stunned Chinese Taipei's Huang Yu Hsun in straight sets in the one-sided semifinals on Saturday.
The Indian shuttler won the hard-fought set 22-20, according to ESPN. Devika started the second set on a dominating note, racing to an 11-5 lead at the break.
Devika then extended the lead to eight points by showcasing a brilliant play at the net. The Chinese Taipei shuttler tried to fight back, reeling off three points to close the gap to 17-12, but the Indian shuttler was unstoppable, and won the second set by 20-13, winning the one-sided contest.
Devika will now face Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia in the grand finale of the Thailand Masters on Sunday.
Earlier, Devika pulled off an absolute stunner, upsetting the home favourite and top seed Supanida Katethong to make it to the semifinals of the ongoing Thailand Masters on Friday.
Sihag pulled off a brilliant, well-fought win over the world number 16, Supanida, by 21-19, 21-18.
Also, Isharani Baruah was defeated in the women's singles competition by Malaysia's Wong Ling Ching 18-21, 21-16, 21-13 despite winning the first game.
After a well-fought first game win, she failed to maintain the momentum in the next two games.
Isharani had eliminated the second-seeded women's singles player, Chinese Taipei's Sung Shuo Yun, in the second round on Thursday. The 22-year-old shuttler, world number 48, outclassed the world number 34 within over an hour by 21-13, 14-21, 21-14.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Great to see our young talent stepping up! The future of Indian badminton looks bright with players like Devika and Isharani coming through. Tough luck for Isharani today, but she had a great win over the #2 seed. Onwards and upwards!
The scoreline says 22-20, 20-13 but the article calls it one-sided? The first set was clearly very hard-fought. Just a small point – our media should be more accurate. That said, brilliant performance by Devika! Bring home the title!
Watching from the US. So exciting to see Indian athletes excelling on the global stage. The net play mentioned sounds incredible. Will try to catch the final stream. Go Devika!
This is the result of the system Gopichand and now Lakshya's academy in Almora are building. We are producing a pipeline of talent, not just one or two stars. Bahut badhiya! 🏸
The mental strength to win that tight first set 22-20 is what champions are made of. After that, she dominated. Hope she gets good coverage for the final. We should support our athletes more.
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