Paris, Oct 29: Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin defeated reigning two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-18 to reach the women's singles final at the French Open 2022 badminton tournament, here on Saturday. Marin, who needed 47 minutes to defeat Japan's Yamaguchi in the semifinal, will face the winner between China's He Bing Jiao and Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, in the final. BWF World Junior Championship 2022: Sankar Muthusamy Becomes Second Indian Shuttler To Reach Final, Achieves Feat With Win Over Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul

After recovering from an ACL injury that prevented her from defending her Olympic title in Tokyo, the Spaniard won the European Championships crown in April. On Sunday, she will seek title number 35 of her career.

It will be for the first time in two years that the 29-year-old will play a final of a World Tour Super 750 tournament. The last time she played a final of a BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament was in Odense, Denmark, in October 2020.

In her best victory since returning to the circuit, Marin dominated throughout, varying direction and pace of play toward an increasingly exhausted opponent.

Yamaguchi had halted Marin's progress to the podium at recent tournaments, including August's World Cup in Tokyo, but this time she beat the circuit's form player.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 29, 2022 11:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).