'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Indian shuttlers continue to make a strong statement at the Denmark Open 2018 as both Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made it to the semi-finals of this Super 750 tournament in Odense, Denmark on Friday. Nehwal came back from a game down to get the better of eighth seed and former world champion Nozomi Okuhara 17-21, 21-16, 21-12 in 58 minutes to set up a semi-final clash with Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
The seventh-seeded Srikanth needed to battle for 1 hour 18 minutes before he could prevail over compatriot Sameer Verma 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 in their first-ever meeting on the BWF circuit. Up next for him is the second seed and world champion Kento Momota.
Nehwal has been showing some admirable fighting spirit and resilience throughout this week in Odense. In the first round, she needed a lot of guts and gumption to pull off a narrow 20-22, 21-17, 24-22 win over Cheung Ngan Yi. She followed it up with a big 21-15, 21-17 upset win over the second-seeded Akane Yamaguchi.
Her quarter-final victory over Okuhara was her first win over the Japanese after three consecutive losses even though she did have an edge in their overall head-to-head career meetings. Saina did not start the match the way she would have wanted to, but she managed to cut down on her errors as the match progressed.
Taking her defensive game up by several notches rattled the Japanese, whose error count started mounting from the second game and she could never recover from it.
Nehwal had a chance to beat Okuhara last month as well at the Korea Open but she squandered four match points to concede a defeat in the end.
Srikanth too is showing signs of resurgence this week after what has been a disappointing season by his lofty standards. If beating Lin Dan in the second round was an indication, he proved it yet again in the quarter-finals in the marathon with Sameer.
The match had frequent momentum shifts as his Pullela Gopichand Academy mate refused to go away. Verma, who has won the Swiss Open and the Hyderabad Open this year, even led 17-13 in the decider at one point of time. But Srikanth fought back valiantly after that to draw level at 19-19. Verma even saved two match points before the Guntur-born shuttler could finally complete the win.
Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, the brave run of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy came to an end as they lost 14-21, 12-21 to the top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.
