China Open: PV Sindhu saves three match points to beat Sung Ji Hyun; enters first ever Super Series Premier final

New Delhi: Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu on Saturday saved three match points to enter the women's singles final at the 2016 China Open in Fuzhou.

The 21-yar-old Indian defeated sixth seeded South Korean Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea in three tough games, 11-21, 23-21 and 21-19 in the second semi-final of the USD 700,000 Super Series Premier event.

Sindhu, who famously won the silver medal at 2016 Rio Olympics, started slowly to lose the opening game 11-21. She was never in the game, trailing the entire 31 points played after 1-1.

But a determined Sindhu played to her limits, fighting for each point in the second game. But her opponent got the first chance to kill of the game and match, but Sindhu dug deep to save three match points, and leveled in her second chance with a 23-21 win.

Sindhu seemed to have conceded the game when she trailed her Korean rival early in the decider, but she pulled back once the game entered middle parts. She then consolidated the lead towards the end, and won the match in the first match point with the duel lasting 1 hour 24 minutes.

She now puts herself in a position to replicate Saina Nehwal's 2014 exploits and win her first ever Premier title. The seventh seed will play Sun Yu of China in the final tomorrow. Yu defeated Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei 21-8, 23-21 in the first semi-final earlier today.

Yu, seeded eighth, has a 3-2 head-to-head lead over Sindhu. The duo last met at Swiss Open in 2014 with the Chinese girl winning in three games 18-21 21-12 21-19.

Sindhu two wins over Yu came at India Open in 2013 and Asian Youth championships in 2012.