It was double delight for India as crowd favourites Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth clinched their maiden women and men's singles titles at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament in New Delhi on Sunday.
Saina, the first Indian women shuttler to achieve the world No 1 ranking, clinched her maiden India Open crown after a dominating straight games victory over former World champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand while Srikanth had to toil to get the better of sixth seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men's singles final, at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
Saina, a bronze medalist at the London Olympics, cruised to a convincing 21-16, 21-14 victory over Intanon, while Srikanth beat the sixth seeded Dane 18-21, 21-13, 21-12.
The men's singles final was a rematch of the Swiss Open final where Srikanth had defeated world No. 6 Axelsen to clinch his first title of the season.
But up first Saina, coming into the match with a 5-3 overall score over her opponent, was not tested much as she was well-prepared for Intanon's deceptive game.
Saina displayed better movement and an array of powerful and accurate smashes to wrest her second title of the season.
The Indian ace, who recently moved to Bengaluru, is on a roll since her triumph at the China Open. On Sunday she played like a champion, anticipating the Thai's moves well and catching her on the wrong foot during rallies.
Intanon, seeded third, seemed to be affected by her marathon semi-final against Carolina Marin of Spain on Saturday, which lasted for close to an hour and a half.
The energy-sapping clash seemed to have taken a toll on her as she was slow and struggled with her returns.
Saina used her powerful smashes and rode on her opponent's unforced errors to lead 11-5 early on. After the break, Intanon gave a glimpse of her superb game as she engaged in long rallies and wristy dribbles to narrow the gap to 10-12.
However, Saina didn't allow the pressure to get to her and then retrieved everything that was thrown at her end. She closed the points with a smash whenever there was a chance.
Intanon had no answer to Saina's accurate and powerful strokes as she ended up sending them wide and long or into the net, allowing Saina to gain a massive nine points' advantage at 20-12.
Intanon saved four before Saina sealed the opening game when the Thai girl hit long.
The change of sides didn't alter anything as Saina again raced to a 5-0 lead.
Intanon collected a few points with her half-smashes and deceptive strokes but the Indian still went into the break with a 11-6 lead.
After the break, Intanon reduced the gap to 18-14, but she again hit out twice to give Saina match point and the title.
Saina had won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow in January, before becoming the first Indian woman to reach the final of the All England Championships.
Later in the day, Srikanth brought more joy to home fans when he beat Axelsen, who had sent H S Prannoy packing in the quarter-finals.
The second seed showed tremendous grit as he fought back from 3-7 down in the decider to edge out his opponent for the second time in as many encounters. Axelsen had reached the finals after his semi-final opponent Tommy Sugiarto retired midway in the second game after winning the first but the Dane could not cross the final hurdle.
Axelsen, the world championship bronze medallist, opened up a 8-5 lead in the opening game and even though Srikanth clawed back at 9-9, the Dane broke off soon and didn't allow his plans to go wayward.
In the second game, Srikanth came up with a dominating show as he zoomed to a massive 12-4 lead. The 2010 World junior champion, however, reduced the margin to 11-13 but the Indian soon marched ahead to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, Axelsen, who won bronze medals at the 2012 and 2014 European Champion, opened up a 7-3 lead and after a fierce battle the Dane went into the interval with a 11-9 advantage.
But Srikanth had other plans, as soon after the break he caught up with Axelsen at 12-12 and then reeled off nine straight points to seal the issue.
.jpg)
