Singapore Open | Srikanth and Praneeth set up historic all-India final
Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth created history by setting up the first ever All-Indian final in the Singapore Open. While Praneeth dished out a superb 21-6, 21-8 victory over Lee Dong-Keun, Srikanth defeated Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-13, 21-14 to book a place in the historic event on Sunday.
Praneeth continued his fantastic run in the tournament beating Lee Dong-Keun, 21 -6, 21-8 in a one-sided semifinal. The Indian made a flying start to the match winning 10 points in a row before the Korean could get his name on the scoreboard. Praneeth didn’t stop there as he completely outclassed his opponent to take the opening game 21-6.
In the second game, Dong-Keun was expected to launch a fightback but Praneeth yet again raced to a 9-1 lead. Even though the Korean won three of the next four points, the match result was looking ominous. It was all one-way traffic as the Korean was able to win just two consecutive points throughout the match. He eventually went on to complete the win dropping just four more points to book a place in his first ever Superseries final.
In the second semi-final, Kidambi Srikanth, who entered the semifinals with a victory over Chinese shuttler Shi Yuqi, sent Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting packing by taking the first game 21-13. Despite trailing 9-4 in the earlier part of the game, the Indian ace took 10 consecutive points to pocket the first game.
The second game was the opposite as the Indian star raced to a 13-8 lead. Ginting tried to force his way back into the game played with some brilliant net play but was not proving to be a match for Srikanth’s all-round game. The Indian upped the ante to take the game to 19-14 and with a smash down the line, Srikanth made it a day to remember for Indian badminton fans as India joined the elite club of China, Indonesia, and Denmark to set up a single-country final.
