DANISH DELIGHT FOR SHUTTLER SRIKANTH, WINS YEAR’S THIRD SUPERSERIES
World No 8 tames Korean veteran Lee hyunil in 25 minutes to continue great year
ODENSE: Kidmabi Srikanth clinched his third Superseries Premier title with a dominating straight-game victory over Korean veteran Lee hyun-il in a lop-sided final of the $750,000 Denmark Open here on Sunday.
Playing an opponent 12 years his senior, Srikanth asserted his dominance with a 21-10, 21-5 win over 37-year-old Lee in a match that lasted just 25 minutes here.
World No 8 Srikanth didn’t give any chances to the more experienced Lee, who looked a pale shadow of the man, who had beaten world No 2 Son Wan Ho in the semi-finals.
The duo was tied 4-4, before Srikanth changed gear and used his deception and powerful smashes to lead 9-5.
A return going to the net gave a point to Lee but Srikanth produced a brilliant cross court net dribble to fox his opponent and moved into the break with a healthy 11-6 lead when the Korean went wide.
Lee had no answer to Srikanth’s razor-sharp smashes and cross-court returns as the Indian led 14-8. Lee also made judgement errors at the baseline and also miscued his strokes as Srikanth extended his advantage to 17-8 with another smash.
The Korean hit two long shots and then sent one at the net to hand over a 20-8 lead to Srikanth.
The Indian made two unforced errors to allow Lee get into doubles figures. But Lee again erred with the length of his return as Srikanth pocketed the first game.
In the second game, Srikanth stepped on the gas and zoomed to a 11-1 lead even as Lee struggled with his strokes, hitting wide and long and often finding the net.
Post mid-game break, Lee produced a steep cross-court return, much to the cheer of the sizable crowd. The Korean lacked antici- pation as Srikanth smashed his way to the title.
Earlier, Ratchanok Inthanon produced another gritty display to stave off the challenge from defending champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 14-21, 21-15, 21-19 for her first title of the season.
Hong Kong’s eighth seeded mixed doubles pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet notched up their maiden major title. They defeated top seeded Chinese combo of Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen 24-22, 19-21, 23-21.
Korea’s women’s doubles pair of Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan dished out another sensational performance to outwit Japanese sixth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-13, 21-16 to clinch the title.
LEE HYUNIL HAD NO ANSWER TO SRIKANTH’S RAZOR SHARP SMASHES AND CROSSCOURT RETURNS.