Gold Coast (Australia), April 14: World No.3 P.V Sindhu set up an all-Indian women's singles final with World No.12 Saina Nehwal in women's badminton competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games. While Sindhu thrashed Canada's Michelle Li in straight games 21-18, 21-8 in the semi-final, Saina overcame a stiff contest from Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour winning by 21-14, 18-21, 21-17, and set her date with her compartriot in the summit clash on Sunday. Both Sindhu and Saina kept their unbeaten run alive and their victories over lower-ranked opponents went on expected lines.

Sindhu started with a slender 11-10 lead midway into her first game against the Canadian, before extending to 14-11 and then to 19-15. The Indian, however allowed the Canadian to sneak in a few points towards the end but managed to wrest back the lead and clinch the tie in 22 minutes. The second game witnessed a complete domination from the Rio Olympics silver medallist, breezing away with a 11-4 lead at the break before stretching her lead to 18-8 and eventually closing the contest in mere 14 minutes.

Earlier, London bronze medallist Saina defeated the World No.18 Scottish 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 in a pulsating semi-final contest that lasted for an hour and five minutes. Saina opened up a 5-0 lead early in the first game before Kirsty managed to open her account to trail 8-11 midway. Coming back, there was no stopping the Indian who raced to a 17-13 lead before closing the game in 21 minutes.

The second game also started on similar lines with Saina opening up with a 4-0 lead before stretching it further to 11-3 at the breather. Saina continued her domination in the second half but Kirsty came back strongly to square things at 15-15. From there on, Kirsty never looked back and managed to lead for the first time at 18-17 before closing the game in 23 minutes.

In the decider, Saina gathered herself to surge ahead with a 7-2 lead before Kirsty reduced the deficit to trail 7-11 midway. Coming back, Saina never allowed the Scottish girl to settle down and closed the affair in 24 minutes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2018 11:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).