India Open: Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap enter semi-finals

Sai Praneeth played brilliantly in the first game to take a four-point lead at 20-16, but Kidambi Srikanth wasn’t going to let the game slip away. He fought back to make it 20-20 before going down 21-23 in the first game.

Kidambi Srikanth took down fellow Indian Sai Praneeth, while Parupalli Kashyap defeated Wang Tzu Wei to reach the semi-final of the India Open in New Delhi on Friday. Srikanth lost the first game, but recovered to win 21-23, 21-11, 21-19 against Praneeth and Kashyap won in straight games with a scoreline of 21-16, 21-11.

File image of Kidambi Srikanth. (AFP)

Praneeth played brilliantly in the first game to take a four-point lead at 20-16, but Srikanth wasn’t going to let the game slip away. He fought back to make it 20-20 before going down 21-23 in the first game. In the second game, Srikanth and Praneeth fought neck-to-neck until 9-9, but once Srikanth took a lead at 14-11, he went onto win seven consecutive points to level the match. In the third game, Praneeth stayed in contention for a victory until 19-19, but thereafter Srikant held his nerve and wrapped up the match.

Wang Tzu Wei had a chance to win the match against Kashyap until 16-16 in the first game. However, once the Indian wrapped up the first game with five consecutive points, there was no looking back. In the second game, Kashyap sealed the deal when he took a seven-point lead at 17-10. Wei managed just one point thereafter as Kashyap won the second game 21-11.

Kidambi Srikanth will face Huang Yuxiang in the semi-finals while Parupalli Kashyap will be up against the winner of the the quarter-final match between HS Prannoy and Viktor Axelsen.