Srikanth wins; Sindhu shocked

Paris: Kidambi Srikanth’s dream season turned even better with his fifth entry into the Super Series final while world championship silver medallist P.V. Sindhu crashed out in the semi-final of the French Open, here on Saturday.

In an all-Indian semi-final, Srikanth, who won the Denmark Open last week, beat compatriot H.S. Prannoy 14-21, 21-18, 21-19 in 62 minutes.

Having already completed a hat-trick of Super Series titles, Srikanth will be aiming to win his fourth title of the season. He meets Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, who defeated Anders Antonsen 21-17, 21-15 in the other semi-final.

Srikanth once again showed his stamina and ability to take the match deep even after Prannoy started on a rousing note with 21-14 victory in the first game.

It was battle on even keel during the next two games as Srikanth’s big match temperament came to the fore during big points.

Earlier, Sindhu had a below-par outing as Japan’s Akene Yamaguchi beat the World Championship silver medallist 21-14, 21-9 in a thoroughly one-sided semi-final.

It took fifth seed Yamaguchi only 37 minutes to blow away the Indian challenge in the last four clash.

While the first game lasted 19 minutes, the second game’s duration was a minute less.

There was a sudden drop of intensity in Sindhu’s performance in the first game at 14-14, when Yamaguchi reeled off seven straight points to wrap it up at 21-14.

Yamaguchi repeatedly attacked Sindhu’s left side as she found it difficult to control.

The Olympic silver medallist was sluggish in her movement as Yamaguchi, with her powerful smashes, did not allow Sindhu to approach the net.

The second game was a one-way traffic as Yamaguchi straightaway went 5-0 up and, at the mini-break, was leading 11-2. She did win a few points with some deft drop shots, but it was too late in the day, as Yamaguchi won the second game at 21-9 to make it to the summit round.