Kidambi Srikanth squatted aside world No. 4 Shi Yuqi’s challenge in just 37 minutes to reach his third successive Superseries final on Saturday at the Australian Open in Sydney.
The 24-year-old Indian defeated the China’s rising star 21-10 21-14 in the first semifinal and will now face the winner of the match between Olympic champion Chen Long and Korea’s Lee Hyun Il.
Srikanth, who lost the Singapore Open final in May to B Sai Praneeth before winning the Indonesia Open crown, gave a masterclass in net play and deception to his opponent in the first match of the day and though Shi managed to deceive the Indian at the net twice in the second game, it was nothing more than a consolation for the Chinese.
The Indian’s domination was so complete that the only time he looked in trouble was when, leading 18-11 in the second game, he slipped while going for an overhead smash and went down on his all four.
But to the delight of his fans and coaches, the Indonesia Open champion was hardly bothered by the incident and completed Shi’s demolition with another cross court jump smash to become only the sixth men’s singles player to reach three consecutive Superseries finals.
“Yes, it’s a dream performance,” said Srikanth. “I played a World Superseries final (Singapore Open) after two years, and then to play the next two finals is a dream for sure. I was in control of the whole match, I didn’t give him any easy points at the start. It’s just that I had to stay there, he’s someone who wants to keep the shuttle in play and goes for the odd shot, so I wanted to stay there and not give him easy points. I was in control at the net.”
Having beaten Sai Praneeth in the earlier round, Srikanth probably came into the semi-finals with added confidence and that showed in his approach as the 24-year-old stepped on the gas from the first point itself using the deceptive drives and jump smashes to unsettle his opponent.
He toyed with Shi at the net, mixed the drives normally used by doubles players to up the pace and then unleashed the booming smashes down the line whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The back-hand tap midway in the first game where Srikanth turned the racquet head at the last minute to leave Shi stranded on one side of the court showed how much the world number 11 was enjoying himself.
Even in the second game, the way Srikanth converted a defensive clear into an attacking stroke that allowed him to simply tap in for a point at 2-2 would have been a delight for his coaches and they would be hoping that the lad from Guntur displays the same precision and speed in the final on Sunday.
“I have no thoughts about the final, no thoughts about winning or losing. (If it is Chen Long) I’ve played him four or five times. Most times it was close. I played him twice this year, I lost 21-19 or so,” he said.
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