Second seed An Se Young defeated third seed PV Sindhu 21-14, 21-17 in 48 minutes to reach the final of her home tournament – the Korea Open Super 500 – for the first time. The Korean improved her head-to-head record against the Indian to 4-0. Later on, Kidambi Srikanth lost out to third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-19, 21-16, bringing an end to the Indian campaign at the event.
Blog: Korea Open Super 500 semifinals
Se Young was quick off the blocks and raced to a 7-1 lead in the first game. The 20-year-old wasted little time in showing the incredible blend of attack and defence in her game, winning a sensational point after a full length dive in the early exchanges.
Sindhu was gritty as she hung in there in the first game but eventually, the Korean held on to the early advantage and closed out the opener in 21 minutes.
The second game was much tighter. Sindhu composed herself and came out aggressive to take a 3-0 lead. But Se Young remained unfazed and won five points in a row to take the lead again. The competition was neck and neck and the score went to 9-9 before the home favourite won the next two points to take a lead to the interval.
Sindhu continued to play at a high level but came up short. The 26-year-old did well to mix things up and move her opponent all over the court but the shuttle simply kept coming back. She fought back to make it 17-18 in the second game but Se Young won the next three points to complete a memorable victory.
Later on Srikanth was outplayed and outsmashed by the World No 8.
The opening game was still a close contest as both players scored consistently without letting the opponent gain a healthy lead. At 18-18 though, Christie started to make his move and claimed the game 21-19.
The 24-year-old then took a 3-0 lead in the second game and stayed ahead till Srikanth levelled the scoring at 13-13, and even took a brief lead to go up 14-13.
But that’s when Christie turned the screws on the match. Changing the pace of his shots, smashing into angles and also not shying away from a few body shots at Srikanth, Christie won eight of the next 10 points to close out the second game and match 21-16.
He’ll now look to win his second title in a row after claiming the Swiss Open Super 300 title a few weeks back.
Images courtesy: Tournament Software
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