Indonesia Open 2017 | Kidambi Srikanth beats Kazumasa Sakai to clinch title
Kidambi Srikanth put on a dominant display to secure his second Super Series Premier title by beating Japan's Kazumasa Sakai in straight games of 21-11, 21-19 to win the 2017 Indonesia Open title. The win capped off a fine tournament for Srikanth as he beat Jan O Jorgensen and Son Wan Ho earlier.
Both Kidambi Srikanth and Kazumasa Sakai made an error-prone start to the first game sharing the first six points of the game equally. But the Indian upped the speed of his game over the next few points as he opened up a 9-6 lead with some incredible net play. And though the Japenese international managed to cut the lead down to within one point, a failed drop shot from Sakai gave Srikanth an 11-8 lead at the interval. After the break, Srikanth kept the pressure on Sakai as he raced to a 17-9 in no time. From then on, the first game was Srikanth’s to lose and he made no mistake as he wrapped up the game at 21-11.
Srikanth, who faced Sakai for the first time in his career, started the second game, just as he had done in the first, splitting the first four points equally. But it was the Japanese took who a four point lead at 7-3 as he took the game to the Indian. With the mid-game interval coming up, Sakai was on course to level the final at one game apiece. After the mid-game break, the Indian roared on by the crowd, clawed his way back into the game by winning 3 of the next 4 points as he cut Sakai's lead down to just two points. The Indian then went on the offensive and levelled the game up at 13-all. From then on, things got tense between the duo as they exchanged points until the scoreboard reached 19-all. However, just as he had done in the first game, Indian held his nerve to take the next two points and clinch the title.
