World No.29 Gregoria stretched World No.5 Sindhu in the first two games of a semi-final. Second seed Sindhu dug deep to win the first game 23-21 before losing the second game 16-21. Gregoria ran out of gas in the third game, which Olympic 2016 silver medallist Sindhu comfortably won with a 21-9 margin.
Gregoria started strong, taking an 11-7 lead in the first game. After the mid-game break, Sindhu showed urgency in reducing the deficit to one with the Indonesian stranded at 11 points.
However, Gregoria continued her impressive start as she held a four-point advantage at 16-12.
Sending the need to come out all guns blazing, Sindhu stepped up her game and quickly eliminated the deficit at the 16-point mark.
Later, both Sindhu and Gregoria alternated a point each till the 21-point mark afterwhich Sindhu sealed the game in style.
In the second game, Sindhu continued from where she left as opened up a 9-5 lead. But the gutsy Indonesian came up with a seven-point streak to not only pull level at the nine-point mark but also to hold a 12-9 lead.
After Sindhu earned a point, Greogria enjoyed another brilliant phase as she bagged four consecutive points which gave her a 16-10 lead before pocketing the second game 21-16.
Sindhu, however, turned the heat in the third game. Starting strongly, she raced to a 5-1 advantage before Gregoria fought valiantly to reduce the gap to one point with the Indian leading 8-7.
Having put in so much of effort, Gregoria looked tired and lacked energy as Sindhu went on a roll by pocketing 10 successive points.
An 18-7 lead for Sindhu almost sealed the Indian's path to the final as she sealed the third game 21-9.
However, Sindhu faces a tough battle in the final against Okuhara, defeated United States seventh seed Beiwen Zhang 21-17, 21-10 in 34 minutes in the other semi-final.
Prior to Sunday's final, three-time World Championship medallist Sindhu and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Okuhara have fought 10 times in their careers, with both winning five times each.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
