WATCH: PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi play 52 shot rally at the Dubai World Super Series Finals

PV Sindhu’s rise in the world badminton circuit has to be one of the best stories of 2017, with Sindhu embracing the pressure of having won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics in the best possible way, and taking her game a notch above in order to stay relevant in the world circuit.

The Dubai World Super Series finals saw Sindhu take on Yamaguchi in what promised to be a mouth-watering final, and that is exactly how it proved to be. Both players started a bit slow, feeling their way into the final, but Sindhu took the advantage, finding her groove, and blowing Yamaguchi away in the opening set, 15-21.

Yamaguchi though responded strongly in the second game, using her all-court play to disturb Sindhu’s rhythm, and ultimately taking the advantage back by running through the second set(21-12) and levelling the match up at 1 set a piece.

The first two sets had set up the decider brilliantly, with both players having found their feet, and having figured out each other’s game perfectly. It seemed like going down the wire, and that is exactly how it panned out.

The point of the match came in the third set, with both players locked in at 13-13 and refusing to give away any space to the opponent. They played shot for shot, drop for drop and came up with one of the most special rallies of the year, going back and forth 52 times, to wind each other out.

Sindhu had the advantage during most part of the rally, but Yamaguchi just did not give up, responding to everything that Sindhu threw at her, but ultimately succumbing to sucker of a drop shot that Sindhu unleashed at the end of the rally.

Check out the video here: