Srikanth topples World No 1, in Indonesia final
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated World No 1 Son Wan Ho to enter the men’s final of the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier after HS Prannoy faced defeat against Kazumasa Sakai in the first semi-final here on Saturday.
World No 22 Srikanth kept his nerves to win 21-15, 14-21, 24-22 against the South Korean Son. He will face Sakai in the final on Sunday at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
The first game looked a cakewalk for Srikanth -- who won 21-15 over Son. The only point where Son looked a bit dangerous was when he came close 10-12 from 6-11 but failed to take advantage.
In the second set, 29-year-old Son made a come back after trailing 4-6 to rely on his deft netgame to equalise one game apiece with a 21-14 win.
The final game remained stiff till the very end with none of the shuttlers giving any space to the opponents. Son edged ahead with a 13-10 lead but Srikanth kept firing winners to equalise at the 14-point mark and even held a point lead.
But Son didn’t flinch and kept rallying hard till the end to find crucial points. With the match reaching a tipping point in terms of intensity at 20-all, both the shuttlers felt the heat. While Srikanth banged a smash at the net, Son erred in hitting long. But the Indian kept his nerve to edge past Son and win 24-22.
Srikanth will now eye his third Superseries title after victories in the 2014 China Open and the 2015 India Open. Earlier, Prannoy’s dream run was halted by unseeded Sakai, who came back from a game down to win 21-17, 26-28, 18-21.
‘SHOCKED TO REACH BACK-TO-BACK FINALS’
“Coming into the tournament, I never thought really that I will reach the finals again. I am shocked to be playing back to back finals. It will take a while to digest it and then prepare for tomorrow,” Srikanth told PTI.
“Whenever I play him, it is always a long match and he has been playing well of late. He is the world No 1 now and you have to give him respect.
“I won a lot of points and also lost points when my smashes went out but that’s the way I play. I was lucky there in the last point. I am proud.”