Swiss Open: Sindhu marches into final; Srikanth crashes out

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu dished out a superlative performance to outclass Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in straight games and enter the women's singles final of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament, in Basel, on Saturday.

Sindhu, the reigning world champion, beat fourth seeded Blichfeldt 22-20, 21-10 in 43 minutes to avenge her first-round loss to the Danish world No 12 at the Yonex Thailand Open in January.

This is Sindhu's first final appearance since the World championships in 2019.

The second seeded Indian will take on top seed and Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin in the summit clash on Sunday. It will the first meeting between the two in over two years.

"Carolina is a good player so it won't be an easy match, I have to play my 100 per cent," Sindhu said.

Former world No 1 Srikanth crashed out of the Swiss Open after losing against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the semi-final.

Denmark's Axelsen outclassed Srikanth 21-13, 21-19 in 41 minutes to proceed to the final of the tournament. Srikanth failed to get momentum in the first game and struggled to keep the shuttle on the court. In the second game, the Indian player tried to make a comeback but it was denied by the in-form Axelsen as he bagged the close-fought game 21-19.

World number 10 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also bowed out after losing 10-21 17-21 to sixth seeded Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the last-four stage.

The Indian duo had a last four finish in their last event at Toyota Thailand Open in January.

Sindhu thus emerged as the lone Indian survivor in the $ 140,000 event, the first tournament in the extended Olympic qualification period which ends on June 15.