World Tour Finals: Sensational Sindhu seizes final spot, Sameer loses

Continuing her sizzling form, Indian badminton star P V Sindhu progressed to the summit clash of the World Tour Finals for the second successive time but it was curtains for debutante Sameer Verma in men's singles here Saturday.

The 23-year-old Indian, who finished runner-up at the last edition, staved off a strong challenge from the fighting Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, a 2013 world champion, to emerge a 21-16 25-23 winner in a tense semifinal that clocked 54 minutes.

Sameer, however, had to swallow a bitter pill after squandering a match point advantage in the second game to go down 21-12 20-22 17-21 to All England Champion and World Championship silver medallist Shi Yuqi of China in the men's singles semifinals.

Sindhu came into the match with a 3-4 record against the Thai player but she was buoyed by her recent results as she has not lost to Intanon in the last two years.

The Olympic silver medallist will now fight for the title with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, to whom she had lost .