KUALA LUMPUR, May 23: Seasoned Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth stormed into his first semifinal in over a year with a hard-fought three-game win over higher-ranked Toma Junior Popov of France at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament here on Friday.
Ranked 65th in the world, Srikanth displayed remarkable resilience and tactical maturity to outwit world no.18 Popov 24-22, 17-21, 22-20 in a fiercely-contested quarterfinal that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
The 32-year-old from Guntur, a 2021 World Championships silver medallist, has endured a rough patch over the past few seasons, struggling with form and fitness.
However, he battled through the qualifiers and has now notched up five straight wins to reach the business end of a BWF World Tour event.
“It’s been a while since I’ve won this many matches in a tournament and I hope I can continue to do so,” said Srikanth.
“I’ve always been trying to better myself and this win just proves that whatever I’m doing is working,” added the former world no.1, who had won four titles in a stellar 2017 season and was part of India’s historic Thomas Cup triumph in 2022.
Srikanth will take on Yushi Tanaka of Japan in the last four match, which will be his first semifinal appearance in over a year.
The Japanese, who has won two Super 300 titles — the Orleans Masters and the U.S. Open — beat France’s Christo Popov, brother of Toma Junior, 21-18 16-21 21-6 in another men’s singles quarterfinal duel on Saturday.
The other men’s singles semifinal will be played between fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan and second seed Li Shi Feng of China.
Srikanth is now the lone surviving Indian in the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament after the exit of the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Kapila and Crasto gave top seed Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China a tough fight in the first game but lost steam in the next to bow out 22-24 13-21 in a 35-minute affair.
The 32-year-old Indian had lost to Toma twice before – at the 2021 Orleans Masters and the 2023 French Open – but turned the tables this time, prevailing in a 74-minute battle marked by relentless pressure and momentum shifts.
Srikanth made a quick start, racing to a 5-1 lead in the opening game before Toma clawed back to level at 7-7.
What followed was an intense battle for supremacy, with the lead changing hands frequently.
However, Srikanth held his composure to edge past the Frenchman and pocket the first game.Switching sides, Toma came out stronger in the second, taking a 6-2 lead. Though Srikanth managed to catch up at 14-all, the 26-year-old Frenchman kept his nose ahead to take the match into a decider.
The third game turned into a rollercoaster. Srikanth led 5-2 before Toma surged ahead to go into the interval with an 11-7 advantage. The Frenchman held a slender 16-14 lead before Srikanth turned the tide with a brutal smash to earn three match points.
However, nerves crept in as the Indian squandered all three opportunities, sending the shuttle wide twice and then into the net. But Toma faltered under pressure, committing two unforced errors as Srikanth sealed the match and raised his hand in triumph.
A naturally gifted shotmaker, Srikanth has often been guilty of losing matches due to untimely unforced errors, especially when his powerful smashes missed the lines.
But over the last three months, he went through intense training sessions, worked on his fitness, and sharpened his ability to inject pace into rallies under the watchful eyes of coaches RMV Gurusaidutt and Parupalli Kashyap.\
Srikanth had reached the quarterfinals at the Thailand Open Super 300 this year, while his last semifinal appearances came at the Swiss and Macau events in 2023.Next up is Tanaka, who ended fellow Indian HS Prannoy’s campaign earlier in the tournament. Srikanth will be keen to settle that score. (PTI)
