Jakarta: Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated World No.1 Son Wan Ho to enter the men’s singles final of the Indonesian open Superseries Premier after H.S. Prannoy faced defeat against Kazumasa Sakai in the first semi-final on Saturday.
World No.22 Srikanth kept his nerves to win 21-15, 14-21, 24-22 against the South Korean Son. He will face Sakai in the final on Sunday at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
The first game looked a cake-walk for Srikanth – who won 21-15 over Son.
But Son didn’t flinch and kept rallying hard till the end to find crucial points. With the match reaching a tipping point in terms of intensity at 20-all, both the shuttlers felt the heat. While Srikanth banged a smash at the net, Son erred in hitting long. But the Indian kept his nerve to edge past Son and win 24-22.
In the final, Srikanth will eye his third Superseries title after victories in the 2014 China Open and the 2015 India Open.
Earlier, Prannoy’s dream run was halted by unseeded Sakai, who came back from a game down to win 21-17, 26-28, 18-21, and seal his berth in the final on Sunday.
Prannoy, who defeated multiple Olympic and World Championships medallists Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long in the last two matches, on Saturday dominated the opening game with a 8-3 lead.
The Japanese bounced back well into the second game to open up a 11-5 lead by the break before Prannoy fought back to draw level at 18-18, but failed to convert five match point opportunities as Sakai won the game in 32 minutes. (IANS)
