Kidambi Srikanth registered one of the biggest victories of his career, beating World champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark to enter the semi-finals of the Denmark Open Super Series Premier, in Odense, on Friday.
The world No. 8, who already has two Super Series titles -- from tournaments in Indonesia and Australia -- to his name, rallied splendidly after losing the first game to emerge triumphant at 14-21, 22-20, 21-7 and avenge defeats by the Dane at the India Open, World Championship and Japan Open.
The rising Indian badminton star, who defeated Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-13, 8-21, 21-18 in the pre-quarter-finals, stayed cool after losing the first game and scored repeatedly with deft drops at the net and down-the-line smashes to overcome the local hero, ranked world No 1, in 56 minutes.
His victory brought cheer to the Indian contingent at the Open after Saina Nehwal suffered a straight games loss to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the women's singles quarter-finals earlier in the day.
However, later, H S Prannoy, who scored his second successive victory over three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei in the previous round, failed to make it to the semi-finals. His giant-killing run was halted by top-seed and world No 2 Son Wan Ho in another quarter-final later in the evening. The Korean won of Korea 21-13, 21-18.
Saina no match for Yamaguchi
Exhausted after being forced to play a late night match on Thursday due to a power failure at the stadium, the world No 12 Saina lost 10-21, 13-21 to Yamaguchi, ranked fifth, in a little less than 30 minutes.
"I did not get enough time to rest; have never played a match at 2 am. It has never happened. Never slept at 3 am. I was sluggish. My movement was not good. But I should say Yamaguchi also played really well. She has got a good game, she has been consistent," said Saina after the match.
"Last time I had played her was at the Malaysia Open. She has obviously improved a lot in the last two years. She has been in top 5. I have to prepare more to play tough back-to-back matches. Anyway, I can't do much about it. Next is French Open," she added.
Saina, who had lost to Yamaguchi at the Malaysia Open this year, clearly looked tired and sluggish. Her movement was not up to the mark and she committed too many errors as Yamaguchi opened up a 11-6 lead and the Indian could hardly do anything right after the break as the Japanese walked away with the opening game.
In the second game, Saina tried to pump herself up and moved to 3-3 early on, but Yamaguchi put the shuttle in positions that the Indian found difficult to retrieve and led 7-4.
The rallies got faster but Saina did manage to lead 8-7, though but Yamaguchi held the slender one point advantage at the break when the Indian hit long.
Yamaguchi stayed a step ahead of the Indian, who seemed a tad late in her strokes. The Japanese continued to accumulate points with her better court coverage and stroke-play and sealed the match without much difficulty.
