Kidambi Srikanth brought joy to what had been a disappointing day to Indian shuttlers at Denmark Open 2017 by stunning reigning world champion and local favourite Viktor Axelsen and reaching the semi-final of the World Superseries Premier tournament.
Earlier, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy bowed out of the competition after defeats in quarter-final matches on Friday, October 22.
Men's singles eighth seed Srikanth eliminated Rio Olympic bronze medallist and second seed Axelsen with a 14-21, 22-20, 21-7 in 56 minutes. Even as both the shuttlers were initially struggling to control the shuttle due to drift at Odense, the Dane was on top form in the opening game.
Srikanth fights back
He had a 19-17 lead in the second, but Srikanth forced his way back before taking the game 22-20. The Indian shuttler even celebrated after forcing a decider against Axelsen, who had looked daunting until then.
The Dane was completely blown away by Srikanth, who relentlessly attacked in the decider, much to the disappointment of the vocal home crowd, which went silent after the local hero faltered.
"I really wanted to stay there until the end. I gave him the early lead in the first game, but in the second game I didn't give him that chance. You can't afford to give the top players a chance," Srikanth said on Friday, as quoted by BWF's official website.
He added: "I've been playing well in the last couple of months; unfortunately I lost in the quarter-finals of the World Championships. I lost to Viktor in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open, so I wanted to break the quarter-finals barrier."
After not a great start really happy to turn things in 2nd and continue it all the way. Excited to get back on court tomorrow. #believe pic.twitter.com/PVtDHCoM1C
— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) October 20, 2017
Saina blown away
Meanwhile, Japanese fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi took only 29 minutes to dismantle Saina, who lost 10-21, 13-21. It was quite an underwhelming show from Saina as she failed to compete against the Japanese.
Yamaguchi will meet rising Chinese star Chen Yufei, while the other women's singles semi-final will be fought between world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Indonesia.
Son too good for Prannoy
Prannoy fell against South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho, who won 13-21, 18-21in 44 minutes.
Son will face South Korean Lee Hyun II in a last four battle. Srikanth will meet the winner of the quarter-final between Vincent Ki Wing Wong and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
(With inputs from IANS)
