NANJING, Aug.4 -- Spaniard Carolina Marin is to play Pusarla V. Sindhu of India in the showdown of BWF World Championships women's singles event, which will see a rematch of the final at the Rio Olympics two years ago.
Marin, seeded seventh, knocked out sixth seed He Bingjiao 13-21, 21-16, 21-13 in the semifinal stage here on Saturday, while Sindhu dispatched Japanese star Akane Yamaguchi 21-16, 24-22.
"To reach the final here means a lot for me. When I came here, I knew that I was not the favorite to win this. I don't have any kind of pressure when I play here. I just want to do my best from the first game to the final," said two-time title winner Marin, whose career's biggest victory was against Sindhu in the final at Rio 2016 when she defeated the Indian 2-1 to win the first Olympic gold medal for Spain in badminton sport.
It was the second straight final for Sindhu in the BWF World Championships, as she fell to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 2-1 in an enthralling final last year. The India's no.1 shuttler has already exacted a sweet revenge on Okuhara in the quarterfinals on Friday, and managed to extend her momentum in the semifinals against another Japanese player Yamaguchi. The 23-year-old erased a seven-point deficit at 19-12 in the second game, winning 12 of the next 15 points and overcoming Yamaguchi's stiff resistance to take the match.
The men's final will be held between China's Shi Yuqi and Japanese title favorite Kento Momota.
World No. 3 Shi defeated reigning Olympic champion Chen Long 21-11, 21-17, in an all-Chinese matchup. Both players stayed patient at the beginning of the match, not keen on smashes. The score seesawed as the two top guns exchanged long rallies, until Shi opened fire first and took a four-point lead at 9-5. The No. 3 seed pressed ahead with fiercer attacks and claimed the first game 21-11.
Chen began his counterattack in the second game, winning six of the following seven points from 7-1 down. However, his faults denied his chance to level the match 1-1 despite his arduous efforts saving 2 match points.
"I have never thought I could make it to the final. With only one match ahead, I will definitely do my best," shi said after the semifinal.
The 22-year-old triumphed in both individual finals at the India Open and the All-England Open earlier this year and helped the Chinese national team lift the Thomas Cup. Four years ago, he has been crowned at the Youth Olympic Games here in Nanjing, but this time, his rival will be Japan's in-form Kento Momota. The latter stormed into his first final at the worlds with a 21-16, 21-5 win over Malaysia's unseeded Daren Liew on Saturday.
"Momota is a all-round player now, in terms of his mentality, tactics or his shuttle routes," Shi said.
In their last and only encounter, the world no.7 edged out Shi in the round of 16 of the 2018 Asia Championships in Wuhan. However, Shi might have a good chance to avenge that defeat in front of the home crowd.
The men's doubles event will also be a clash between Chinese and Japanese shuttlers. Fourth-seeded Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen got the better of another Chinese duo, title holders Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan in straight games to set a final against fifth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda.
Both China and Japan have already secured one gold medal, as the mixed doubles final will see an all-Chinese duel and two Japanese pairs will take on each other in the women's doubles final.
China's Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping needed only 30 minutes to cruise past third seeds Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet 21-6, 21-10. Their rivals in the final will be top seeds Zheng and Huang Yaqiong, who came from one game down to overcome another home pair, Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui, 19-21, 21-12, 21-10 to advance.
Zheng and Huang Yaqiong paired up late last year, but have won all their previous four clashes against Wang and Huang Dongping. The recent one was in the final of the Malaysia Open last month, where they defeated their compatriots 21-19, 21-18 to clinch their second title of 2018.
In the women's doubles actions, Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto beat Indonesia's pair Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 21-12, 23-21 to set the final against Yuki Fukushim and Sayaka Hirota, who eliminated Japanese compatriots Koharu Yonemoto and Shiho Tanaka 21-19, 21-15 in Saturday's other semifinal.