Japan's Yamaguchi wins nail-biting women's singles final of Dubai World Superseries 2017

DUBAI -- World No 2 Akane Yamagushi of Japan beat India's Pusarla V. Sindhu 15-21, 21-12, 21-19 to win the women's singles title at BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017 here on Sunday.

The top-seeded Japanese said after the hard-fought win, "During the entire match I saw the trophy placed on the side of the court and I thought 'I want this trophy, I want this!"

Hyderabad-born Sindhu was fighting with tears after the match. "This is really hard as I was so close to get the title," she said. The 22-year old was also the runner-up in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2017 World Championships.

"I changed my tactics and kept the shuttlecock high in the second set," said Yamaguchi. At the start of the match, right-handed showed strength in her agile and speedy play and was rarely challenged in the first set.

In the second set, the 20-year old Yamaguchi fell back 0-5 at first and then changed her tactics and gradually took an upper hand. Midway in the set, Sindhu appeared exhausted and suffered from unforced errors to let her Japanese opponent take the second set at 21-12.

In the third set, Sindhu again gained an upper hand at beginning but fell back slowly. The two shuttlers changed lead till the score was tied at 18-18.

Yamaguchi then proved she was stronger than her opponent both mentally and physically and wrapped up the match 21-19.