Kidambi Srikanth stuns 3rd seed Anders Antonsen to join HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu in Swiss Open semis

Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu stormed into the Swiss Open semi-finals in Basel on Friday.

Seventh seed Kidambi Srikanth stunned third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-19, 19-21, 22-20 in a thrilling men’s singles quarter-final. The marathon edge-of-the-seat match lasted for an hour and 19 minutes.

World No. 12 Srikanth registered sensational back-to-back victories in the Swiss Open BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament to clinch his place in the last-four stages.

On Thursday, Srikanth saved a couple of match points to edge past Christo Popov of France 13-21, 25-23, 21-11.

On Friday, Srikanth was down to match point when the Danish great was leading 20-19 in the third and deciding game. However, experienced campaigner Srikanth displayed nerves of steel under tremendous pressure to reel off three straight points for a memorable win.

Srikanth ends three-match losing streak against Anders Antonsen of Denmark

Srikanth recorded a spectacular victory over world No. 3 Antonsen to arrest a three-match losing streak against the tall Danish shuttler. 29-year-old Srikanth was on the verge of a win after leading 19-16 in the decider.

However, Antonsen notched up four successive points to go ahead 20-19. World Championships silver medallist Srikanth showed remarkable temperament to pocket three crucial points on his way to an outstanding win.

Srikanth will now square off against fourth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia. Reigning Asian Games champion Christie defeated Toma Junior Popov of France 21-18, 16-21, 24-22 in another long duel that lasted exactly 79 minutes.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth leads a head-to-head record of 4-3 against world No. 8 Christie.

Prannoy and Sindhu sail into the semi-finals

Double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy sailed into the semifinals with straight-game victories in their respective women’s and men’s singles events.

Second seed Sindhu made light work of fifth seed Michelle Li of Canada 21-10, 21-19 in 36 minutes. It was Sindhu’s seventh victory against world No. 12 Li in their nine encounters so far.

World No. 26 Prannoy beat compatriot and former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Parupalli Kashyap 21-16, 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 43 minutes.

Kerala's Prannoy improved head-to-head record to 3-1 against world No. 37 Kashyap.

Former world champion Sindhu will meet unseeded Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the semifinals on Saturday. Sindhu leads the head-to-head record of 2-1 against world No. 29 Katethong.

World No. 24 Prannoy will lock horns against third-seeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the semifinals. Both Prannoy and world No. 5 Ginting won one match against each other.

The Indonesian Ginting downed another Indian player Sameer Verma 21-17, 21-14 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 39 minutes.

Sindhu was in good touch as she simply outplayed her opponent in the first game. After the scores were leveled at 3-3, Sindhu grabbed seven straight points twice. Sindhu was ahead 10-3 first and then led 17-4 before pocketing the first game.

The second game was a close affair with none of the two shuttlers giving an inch to the other. Sindhu was trailing 0-3 but quickly made it 4-4. She was ahead 7-4 but the Canadian fought back to reduce the gap to just one point.

Sindhu again roared back to a 14-9 lead before Li made a remarkable comeback to make it 16-16. The second game could have gone either way as the scores leveled 17-17, 18-18 and 19-19 but ultimately it was Sindhu who held her nerves to grab it 21-19 and pocket the match.

Heartbreaking defeat for Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy

Sixth seed Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy went down fighting the Malaysian duo of Vivian Hoo and Chiew Sien Kim in the quarterfinals. The Indian pair lost 20-22, 21-23 in 55 minutes. In both the extended games, world No. 20 Ashwini and Sikki had their chances but just could not close it out.

The world No. 44 Malaysian duo kept their cool in pressure situations to emerge victorious.

Indian Results (Quarter-finals)

Men’s singles

7-Kidambi Srikanth bt 2-Anders Antonsen (Denmark) 21-19, 19-21, 22-20 (79 minutes)

HS Prannoy bt Parupalli Kashyap 21-16, 21-16 (43 minutes)

Sameer Verma lost to 3-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) 17-21, 14-21 (39 minutes)

Women’s singles

2-PV Sindhu bt 5-Michelle Li (Canada) 21-10, 21-19 (36 minutes)

Women’s doubles

6-Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy lost to Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien (Malaysia) 20-22, 21-23 (54 minutes)

Semi-final line-up

Men’s singles

7-Kidambi Srikanth vs 4-Jonatan Christie (Indonesia)

HS Prannoy vs 3-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia)

Women’s singles

2-PV Sindhu vs Supanida Katethong (Thailand).