Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017: PV Sindhu books semi-final spot, Srikanth Kidambi’s hopes dashed

In a tale of contrasting fortunes for two of India’s top shuttlers, PV Sindhu won her match to book her place in the semi-finals of the Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017 but Srikanth Kidambi lost his second consecutive match on Thursday. Sindhu was thoroughly dominant in her 21-13, 21-12 win over the 15th ranked Sayaka Sato and never put a foot wrong.

Srikanth, on the other hand, squandered a second-game lead to succumb to an 18-21, 18-21 defeat to the seventh ranked Chou Tien Chen. With that loss, he is now out of contention for a semi-final berth.

Sindhu was hardly ever challenged by her Japanese opponent, who managed to take a game off the Indian in two out of their three previous meetings. Even in their most recent showdown in China, the Indonesia Open champion made it a tight two-game affair for the Pullela Gopichand protégé.

There was no such repeat in the season finale. In an opener where Sindhu was in complete control, the closest the Japanese came to the World Championships silver medallist was when she trailed 8-10.

With a display of fiery aggression, the Indian soon extended her lead and raced away to grab the first game. The southpaw could not do much to change the course of the match in the second game.

From 11-6, Sindhu jumped to 14-7 and bagged five points on the trot to lead 19-7. Sato saved four match points in one last push before the Indian closed out the win in 36 minutes.

The Rio Olympic silver medallist now leads the Group A standings. Her final round robin match against Akane Yamaguchi on Friday will decide the topper from the group.

Error-prone Srikanth slumps to second defeat in Dubai

At the Dubai World Superseries Finals, Srikanth Kidambi has not been the same player, who has conquered four Superseries tournaments this year. The lack of sharpness was evident in his clash with Chou Tien Chen, who thus posted his second win over the Indian at this tournament, with the first one coming in 2015.

Srikanth went 0-5 in the first game before he could even bag a point. He could never settle into the match fully and find his usual rhythm. From 11-6, the Chinese Taipei ace went up to 20-12.

The 2014 semi-finalist Srikanth showed some spirited fightback towards the end of the opening game and saved six game points on the trot. However, it was too late as Chen wrapped up the opener when the Indian sent the shuttle wide.

The World No. 4 looked to have got back his lost confidence and led the proceedings for much of the second game only to relinquish his lead at the very end. Chen evened the score at 17-17 and raised his level further which made life difficult for the Indian, who slumped to the defeat in 43 minutes.