Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched the Swiss Grand Prix Gold championship title after overcoming a strong challenge from Viktor Alexson in a hard-fought men's singles final in Basel on Sunday.
World No. 4 Srikanth showed nerves of steel to prevail over his Danish opponent, ranked sixth in the world, 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 in the thrilling summit clash of the USD 120,000 event as the contest lasted 47 minutes.
Srikanth, who created a major upset in the final of the 2014 China Open Super Series Premier by beating five-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan, kept his nerves to make a strong comeback after going down tamely in the second game.
The top two seeds started off positively in the opening game, not sparing an inch to each other. It was a closely fought affair till 8-8 before the Indian managed to take a slender lead at the St Jakobshalle Stadium in Basel.
The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh played sensibly thereafter and never let the advantage slip. He maintained an edge over his opponent to finally wrap off the first game rather comfortably.
{{/usCountry}}The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh played sensibly thereafter and never let the advantage slip. He maintained an edge over his opponent to finally wrap off the first game rather comfortably.
{{/usCountry}}However, Alexson, seeded two, got his act together in the second game and put up such a dominating show, that it sent Srikanth looking for cover.
In fact, it turned out to be a cake-walk for the Danish player. From being tied 2-2, Alexson broke away and simply surged ahead 7-2. He kept extending the advantage and the margin became impossible for the Indian to reduce.
Alexson eventually sealed it off 21-12 to take it to the decider.
In the third game, Srikanth straight away opened up a 3-0 lead and then made it 4-1 but Alexson was not one to get intimidated and he levelled the scores at 4-4, before gaining a few more points to surge ahead.
Srikanth, however, soon drew parity at 9-9 and it moved on like that till 13-13 before the top-seeded Indian shuttler slowly gained the lead and got three points in a row.
Alexson earned another one but the Indian grabbed the next five points on the trot to etch his name as the winner of the tournament.
In the semi-final, Srikanth got the better of compatriot Ajay Jayaram, winning the match 17-21, 21-15, 21-18.
Earlier, Srikanth had won a Grand Prix Gold title in Thailand Open in 2013, while finishing runners-up at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold event in Lucknow.