Kidambi Srikanth Marches Into Australian Open Super Series Final
Kidambi Srikanth beat World No.4 Shi Yuqi in straight games to advance to the men's singles final of the Australian Open Super Series.
- Santosh Rao
- Updated: June 24, 2017 10:09 AM IST
Highlights
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Kidambi Srikanth thrashes World No.4 Shi Yuqi
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Kidambi Srikanth won the semi-final 21-10, 21-14
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Kidambi Srikanth reached his 3rd straight Super Series final
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth continued his rampaging run by marching into the Australian Open Super Series men's singles final with a comprehensive 21-10, 21-14 win over fourth-seed Shi Yuqi of China. This will be the third straight Super Series final for Srikanth, who had only last week secured the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier title. The Indian shuttler took just 37 minutes to brush aside his Chinese opponent and storm into the title clash where he will play the winner of the other semi-final between China's Chen Long and South Korea's Lee Hyun Il.
This was the second time that Srikanth, ranked 11th, came face to face with World No.4 Shi Yuqi. The duo had clashed in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open earlier this year with the Indian reigning supreme in the match.Â
Srikanth had registered a straight game 21-14, 21-16 en route to the final of the tournament.
And yet again the Chinese shuttler was no match as Srikanth brought out his 'A' game to leave his opponent shell-shocked in the completely one-sided semi-final.
In the first game, the Shi Yuqi managed to stay in touch with Srikanth at 4-4 but it was one-way traffic from the there as Srikanth opened a big 16-10 lead, and then wrapped up the game with reeling off five consecutive points.
The second game followed much the same patter with the Chinese shuttler holding off the Indian star at 7-7. But like the first game, Srikanth upped the ante and streaked to 15-8 lead.
There were a few hiccups as Shi Yuqi tried to close the gap but Srikanth kept his cool to close out the game and with it the match.
On Friday, Srikanth overcame compatriot Sai Praneeth in the all-Indian quarterfinal.
However, disappointment was in store for India in the women's singles as Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu and defending champion Saina Nehwal squandered opportunities galore to go down in thrilling three-game matches.