Jakarta June 18 (IANS) Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was at his ruthless best as he defeated Japanese Sakai Kazumasa in straight games and clinch the men s singles title at the Indonesian Open Superseries Premier here on Sunday.
Srikanth made short work of Sakai 21-11 21-19 in the final which lasted barely 37 minutes at the Jakarta Convention Centre. The Indian pocketed $75 000 for the triumph.
Srikanth had stunned South Korean world No. 1 Son Wan Ho in the semi-final.
It was the 24-year-old Guntur player s third Superseries title after the victories in the 2014 China Open and 2015 India Open. It was also Srikanth s second successive and fourth Superseries final overall.
The first game between the two unseeded players was a cakewalk for Srikanth who kept himself focused to fire in winners after winners.
With his smashes falling in place he raced to an 8-5 lead and then built the lead at 19-9. The Japanese resisted for a couple of points before conceding the first game at 11-21.
The second game started in favour of the Japanese as he took an 11-6 lead at the mid-game breather. Srikanth seemed to have lost focus leading to couple of misjudgements and mishits.
After the break Srikanth with his height giving him an added advantage made a comeback to take a 14-13 advantage riding on his sizzling and powerful smashes.
But the 27-year-old Sakai didn t flinch and two quick retrievals and sharp movements gave him a two-point lead at 17-15.
The game still failed to find a breather. Both the shuttlers alternately took the lead until the Indian converted the 19-19 equaliser. He then fired two cross-court high jump smashes to win the game 21-19 and clinch the championship.
Srikanth was the only Indian player who made it to the final a day after compatriot H.S. Prannoy went down to Sakai in the semi-finals.
The non-seeded Prannoy had defeated the defending champion Lee Chong Wei and Rio Olympics champion Chen Long to get to the semi-finals.
The results have made us very proud. I am also proud of Prannoy who can make it to the semi-finals. We will work harder to prepare our players in further international tournaments in the future Xinhua news agency quoted India s Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo as saying.
The women s singles final saw unseeded Sayaka Sato of Japan upset South Korean world No.5 Sung Ji-hyun 21-13 17-21 21-14 in an hour and 18 minutes.
China s women s doubles players Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan defeated South Korea Chang Ye na and Lee So he 21-19 15-21 21-10 in the final.
--IANS
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Ruthless Srikanth whips Sakai to win Indonesian Open (Second Lead)
