Odense: India’s Kidambi Srikanth put on an emphatic display on Saturday to outplay Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-18 and 21-17 and book a place in the men’s singles final of the Denmark Open Super Series.
Srikanth, who had already won the Australian Open and the Indonesian Open besides making it to the finals of the Singapore Open, got the better of Wong to set up a clash with Korea’s Ken Lee Hyun II in the final of the tournament with a third Super Series title in mind.
“I feel great. I really wanted to do well. Our game is similar but I was more patient and though I made some errors initially I learnt quickly. Next is Lee whom I have not played and I think he will be a tricky player to beat,” said the 25-year-old in an interaction with PTI.
Srikanth and Wong had a 2-2 record before the match and interestingly, all these matches went down to the decider. But this time, it wasn’t the case as the Hyderabadi shuttler dished out a dominant performance to outplay his opponent in straight sets in a 39-minute encounter.
The match began on equal terms as both looked to establish dominance over each other but Srikanth went ahead with a 11-6 lead. Wong then fought back to take the score to 10-13 but Srikanth held his nerves and calmly played on to lead 15-18 and eventually win the game.
Srikanth began the second game with a bang as he got a 4-0 lead which was sooned caught up by Wong. But the Indian raced ahead once again to a 7-5 lead but Wong fought back hard to gain the upper hand with a 11-9 lead at the break.
But Srikanth, who had stunned World no. 1 and local hero Victor Axelsen en route to the semi-final, wasn’t the one to go down easily as he won three straight points and once again got the lead with 14-12. He then further capitalised on it to take it to 16-15 and then 18-15 before winning the match comprehensively.
On the other hand, the 37-year-old Lee Hyun defeated countryman and current World no. 2 Son Wan Ho 25-23, 18-21 and 21-17 in the other semi-final.
In the women’s singles category, Thailand’s Ratchanok Itanon beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying 21-14, 20-22 and 21-14 to make it to the final where she would square off against Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated World no. 10 China’s Chen Yufei 10-21, 21-18 and 21-19.
Hong Kong’s Tang Chung Man and Tse Ying Suet reached their first final in the mixed doubles category as they prevailed over the Indonesian duo of Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad 21-16, 21-18.
However, the Danish challenge at the Denmark Open ended after the Cartsen Mogensen and Mathias Boe failed to progress as they succumbed to a 18-21, 21-18 and 13-21 defeat at the hands of the fifth seeded Chinese duo of Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng.