Super Srikanth seals the Series
Beats rival in straight games
Jakarta, June 18: Kidambi Srikanth clinched his third Super Series title, lifting the Indonesia Open men’s singles trophy with a straight game victory over Japanese qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in the final here on Sunday.
World No.22 Srikanth, who had reached the Singapore Open final in April, outclassed Sakai, ranked 47th, 2111, 21-19 in just 37 minutes to take home a cheque of $75,000.
“My coach will have a special place in my heart as after he came, I reached the finals at Singapore and to win this tournament, which is considered the biggest tournament. I want to thank all fans, who have been rooting for me all this week,” said Srikanth, who clinched the 2014 China Super Series Premier and the 2015 India Super Series.
Srikanth played a patient game and didn’t allow his opponent to engage in any fast-paced rally. He dictated the pace with his precise angled returns and unleashed his smashes at perfect intervals to gradually run down his rival.
Playing in tricky windy conditions, Srikanth took time to gauge the conditions as his initial returns went wide and out. But his rival also suffered because of similar unforced errors and the Indian led 6-4 early on. He consolidated his lead to reach 11-8 at the break.
After the interval, Srikanth continued to dominate the proceedings. His net dribbles were better than Sakai and with Sakai struggling with precision; the Indian zoomed to a 19-11 lead and sealed it with two lucky net chord points.
After the change of sides, Sakai was leading 7-3 as he entered the break with a 11-6 lead but Srikanth’s aggressive game helped him turn the tables and caught up with the Japanese at 13-13 with an onrushing smash at the net.
The duo moved neck-andneck thereafter till 19-19 before Srikanth produced two fantastic smashes to seal the issue and punch the air in celebration.