Suncheon (South Korea): India’s PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth suffered straight game defeats, ending their campaign in the semi-finals of the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Saturday. Third seed Sindhu, who reached here after winning the Swiss Open title, went down to world number 4 Aan Seong 14-21 17-21 in 48 minutes despite putting up a tough challenge. This is Sindhu’s fourth consecutive defeat against Seong.
World Championships silver medalist Srikanth once again failed to advance to the semi-finals. He was defeated 19-21 16-21 by Asian Games gold medalist Jonathan Christie in men’s singles match that lasted 50 minutes. Sindhu remained backward most of the time during her match against the twenty-year-old Seong.
The second seeded Korean started off brilliantly to take a 6-1 lead. Sindhu scored 4-7 with two powerful returns but Seong took the lead 11-6 at the break with two accurate returns, a shot to the body and a return close to the baseline. Sindhu tried to pace the fight but Seong was always one step ahead of the variety in his shots.
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The Indian got some points with a smash but could not put pressure on Seong. Seong then went on to collect eight game points with Sindhu saving two but the Korean won the game with a powerful smash. In the second game, Sindhu started well to take a 3-0 lead but Seong scored five points in a row to make the score 5-3. Both the players were tied at 9-9 but Sindhu’s shot in the net took Seong to lead 11-9 till the break.
In the midst of a tough competition, Seong was first 14-12 and then 16-14. Sindhu then made mistakes to give the Korean player an opportunity to take an 18-14 lead. Sindhu scored 17-18 with three consecutive points but Seong scored the point with a brilliant return and then got three match points from the Indian player’s shot in the net. Seong won the match with a scintillating smash. Last month too, Srikanth had lost in the semi-finals of the Swiss Open against Christie’s.
On Saturday once again the Indonesian player managed to take control of the match. Srikanth got off to a good start in the first game to lead 9-7 as he was ahead 11-8 at the break. Christie, however, made a comeback to level at 13-13. After this the score was 17-17. Christie grabbed two game points with a smash and a brilliant return. Srikanth saved a point but after that shot out and put the game in the bag of the Indonesian player.
In the second game, Christie’s got off to a better start and took a 3-0 lead. Taking advantage of Srikanth’s mistakes, he was ahead 11-8 till the break. Srikanth made a comeback and scored 14-13 but Christie’s took a 19-14 lead with six consecutive points. Christie then took five match points. Srikanth saved a match point but Christie made an impressive return to reach the final of the BWF World Tour event for the second time in a row. (agency)