Kidambi Srikanth beat Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-13, 21-14 on Saturday to set up an all-Indian final against B Sai Praneeth on Sunday. Srikanth, ranked World No 30, was in impeccable form to hand his 20-year-old Indonesian opponent a tough defeat.
In a tight beginning, Ginting looked good early to force his way to a 10-6 lead before Srikanth fought back brilliantly to get ten straight points and go 16-10 up. The Indonesian shuttler was flustered by Srikanth’s comeback and made more and more mistakes to crumble to a 13-21 loss.
Ginting’s luck seemed like it had remained the same in the second game as well as Srikanth continued his splendid form racing to a 7-1 lead and then went 9-4 up. The 20-year-old Indonesian’s efforts at a comeback were halted as Srikanth deftly dealt with his smashes to go 11-6 up.
The World No 26, however, showed he wasn’t willing to let go that easily, forcing Srikanth into some errors and narrowing the deficit down to 13-16. His desperate comeback came to nought, though, as he threw away his momentum with some mistakes leaving Srikanth the victor in the second game 21-14, and with it, the match.
This is the first time there will be an all-Indian men’s singles final at a Superseries tournament in badminton history. Earlier, B Sai Praneeth had thrashed Lee Dong Keun in the other semi-final.
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