India Open 2019: Kidambi Srikanth Beats Huang Yuxiang to Enter Final

New Delhi, March 30: Kidambi Srikanth beat China's Huang Yuxiang 16-21, 21-14, 21-19 on Saturday to enter the final of the 2019 India Open badminton tournament.

Earlier, in a riveting all-India encounter, 2015 champion Srikanth edged past Sai Praneeth 21-23, 21-11, 21-19 in one hour and two minutes for just his third win in eight meetings over the former Swiss Open runner-up on Friday.

After Praneeth built an early lead of 5-2, Srikanth cut down on his errors and drew level at 13-13 only to concede an 18-14 advantage. The former champion did save three game points but Praneeth held on to close out the game 23-21. Saina Nehwal Second Highest in Women's Singles First Quarter Earnings Behind China's Chen Yufei.

Though Praneeth raced to a 7-1 lead in the second game, it could not deter Srikanth who made a spirited comeback to inch ahead 15-11. He then won the next six points to take the game 21-11.

In the decider, Praneeth took a 13-10 lead, but Srikanth's patience brought him back into contention. In a tense ending, Srikanth's lob at 19-19 landed right on the backline to give him a match point which he duly converted.

"After losing the first set and trailing 1-7 in the second, coming back to take a 8-7 lead was the turning point," said Srikanth after the match.

"After 1-1, I gave him too many one stroke points and there were no rallies. So I thought to build rallies and fight it out for every point and not to concede any easy point," he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2019 05:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).