Srikanth beats Sai Praneeth in nail-biter; big win for Kashyap at Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019

Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019: Srikanth beats Sai Praneeth in nail-biter; big win for Kashyap

New Delhi, March 29: Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap kept Indian hopes alive by advancing to the semi-finals of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019, a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, here on Friday. In a riveting all-Indian encounter, the 2015 champion Srikanth edged Sai Praneeth 21-23, 21-11, 21-19 in 1 hour 2 minutes for just his third win in eight meetings over the former Swiss Open runner-up.

After Sai built an early lead of 5-2, Srikanth cut down on his errors and drew level at 13-13 only to concede an 18-14 advantage. The former champion did save three game points but Sai held on to close out the game 23-21.

Sai kept up that level to move ahead to 7-1 in Game 2. But that could not deter Srikanth who made a spirited fightback to inch ahead to 15-11 and then added the next six points as well to take the second game 21-11.

Sai had the early advantage of 13-10 in the third game, but Srikanth's patience got him back into contention. In a tense ending, Srikanth's lob at 19-19 landed right on the backline to give him a match point which he duly converted.

"After losing the first set and being 7-1 down in the second to coming back in the lead with 8-7 was the turning point," said Srikanth after the match. "After 1-1 I gave him too many one stroke points and there were no rallies so I thought to build rallies and fight it out for every point and not to give any easy points," he added.

First Super 500 semi-final for Kashyap in 4 years

The 32-year-old Kashyap turned back the clock to reach his first semi-final in a World Tour 500-level tournament in nearly four years. The former Commonwealth Games gold medallist showed enough glimpses of his younger self by building a 9-6 lead against World No. 32 Wang Tzu Wei. The Chinese Taipei shuttler did make a brief comeback but Kashyap's deft touches at the net gifted him the first game 21-16.

Wang could not provide much resistance in the second game and Kashyap completed the 21-16, 21-11 win in 39 minutes.

"My body is feeling a little at ease than last few weeks, maybe the training I've done recently has put my body in better shape," said a delighted Kashyap about his performance this week.

Men's doubles sixth seeds Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy effortlessly won an all-Indian quarter-final clash with Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Shivam Sharma 21-10, 21-12. The former national champions are the last Indian pair standing at this prestigious tournament after the 10-21, 18-21 defeat of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy to top seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.

After being outplayed in the first game, an aggressive approach helped the Indians turn it around in the second game and build an 11-6 lead. However, the top seeds came storming back to grab the win in 37 minutes.

India's Aparna Balan and Sruthi KP too lost 8-21, 11-21 to second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.

Intanon continues title quest

Fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon continued her quest for her third title with a 21-18 21-19 victory over her compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Seventh seed Han Yue prevailed over Cheung Ngan Yi 22-20, 21-14.

The quarter-final day witnessed a big upset as China's World No. 30 Huang Yuxiang sent the seventh seed Khosit Phetpradab packing 21-16, 21-15.

Key results:

Men's Singles

HUANG Yuxiang (CHN) bt Khosit PHETPRADAB (THA) (7) 21-16, 21-15

PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND) bt WANG Tzu Wei (TPE) 21-16, 21-11

KIDAMBI Srikanth (IND) (3) bt Sai PRANEETH (IND) 21-23, 21-11, 21-19

Women's Singles

HAN Yue (CHN) (7) bt CHEUNG Ngan Yi (HKG) 22-20, 21-14

INTANON Ratchanok (THA) (4) bt ONGBAMRUNGPHAN Busanan (THA) 21-18, 21-19

Men's Doubles

ATTRI/REDDY (IND) (6) bt CHOPRA/SHARMA (IND) 21-10, 21-12

Women's Doubles