Badminton: Sindhu storms into final of French Open 2026, will meet An Se Young

Paris, October 24 (IANS): Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the final of the BWF French Open 2026, beating Hina Akechi of Japan in three hard-fought games in the women's singles semifinals at the Arena Grand Paris on Saturday.In the match played on Court 1, Sindhu recovered from the loss of a close second game to win 21-10, 20-22, 21-16 in the match that lasted 73 minutes.She next faces World No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea, who defeated Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-12, 21-19 in just 45 minutes, setting herself up to extend her record as the player with most titles on the BWF circuit.In her semifinal clash, Sindhu started strongly, comfortably taking the opening game 21-10. However, Akechi held the lead through the latter half of the second game, with Sindhu briefly moving ahead at 16-all and holding it for the next two points, but the Japanese shuttler managed to level the game to force a decider.The decider saw a close contest, with the scores level at multiple points. Sindhu dominated most of the game before Akechi fought back to level the scores at 14-all and take a 16-15 lead. But the Indian star remained error-free, winning six consecutive points to close out the decider 21-16 and seal her place in the final.This marks Sindhu’s second BWF World Tour Super 750 final of the season, following her title-winning run at the Japan Open in JulySunday's summit clash with reigning world champion An Se Young will be their 11th meeting on the circuit and their third encounter this year. A win would mark Sindhu’s first victory over the South Korean.Looking ahead to the final against An Se Young, Sindhu said, “I have to give her a good fight, a tough fight. Every point matters. I know we've played a lot of times and she's been doing really well. She's been at her top form. But I think tomorrow is a different day. Every day is a new day. I just have to go out there and give my best. Rest decides that particular day. So yeah, I'm ready to give a fight.”