Super-duper series for India

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

new delhi, march 29

In a historic day for the country, top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth clinched the women's and men's singles titles of the $275,000 India Open Super Series here on Sunday to continue their dominance over the badminton world.

While London Olympic bronze medallist Saina notched up a stunning straight-game victory over former World Champion Ratchanok Inanton of Thailand, young Srikanth had to draw from his vast reservoir of experience to stave off the challenge of Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

A vociferous crowd can turn the momentum decisively in favour of a home player. It can put the opponent under tremendous pressure, even resulting in his defeat.

This is what happened at the Siri Fort Complex as the badminton arena was reverberated by the relentless chants of ‘Saina, Saina’ and ‘Srikanth, Srikanth’. Egged on by the weekend crowd, the two brushed aside the challenge of their respective opponents to cap off a sensational tournament which saw some of the leading names like Lin Dan, Carolina Marin and Jan O Jorgensen falling by the wayside.

Saina played like a champion to get the better of Intanon 21-16 21-14 in just 44 minutes. Coming into the match with a 5-3 overall advantage over her rival, Saina countered Inanton’s deceptive game with her powerful smashes, delectable drop shots and delightful cross-court slices to win the second title of the season after her victory in the Syed Modi Grand Prix in January this year.

The Hyderabadi girl, who has been on a roll ever since her victory at the China Open, displayed exquisite shots which included low lifts, beautiful returns and deep backhand shots.

Intanon, seeded third, seemed to be affected by her marathon semifinal match against Carolina Marin of Spain which lasted for close to an hour-and-a-half yesterday.

The energy-sapping clash seemed to have made her movements slow on the court as she struggled with her returns. Saina exploited her opponent’s weakness to her advantage to close out the contest in quick time. The Thai prodigy had no answers to the power and pace of the Indian; cowed down by Saina's smash winners, Intanon meekly crumbled. The well of emotions for Saina finally broke down after she became the first home player to win the title in four years. The success resulted in a double delight for Saina as she also assured herself of the No.1 spot in the women's singles. “It was a tough match. Intanon is one player who always gives me a tough fight whenever I play her. Last time when I played her in the Asian Games, it was a long and close match, so it's always difficult to play her as she is very deceptive with her game. But the way I was moving today, I was picking up all her tricky strokes. I was expecting a tough final, but it ended quite early. It was good to see so many spectators around,” Saina said.

Saina described her current form as the best phase of her life and said it was a huge relief lifting the India Open crown in her fourth attempt. “I think it’s a big burden off my head. Last four years, I had been struggling in this tournament, losing in pre-quarters and quarters...so too many surprises for me in this tournament. I am very proud of myself, never thought this day will come in my life after so much struggle. This is the best phase of my life,” she said.

Saina received a cash prize of $20,625 for her win besides Rs 10 lakh from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for achieving the World No.1 rank. In the men’s singles final, Srikanth defeated Viktor 18-21 21-13 21-12 in 55 minutes in a re-match of his Swiss Open final where the Indian had triumphed over his Danish rival.

The World No.4 Srikanth did not start well against the sixth seed, losing the first game to the Dane. However, the Guntur boy showed his true colours when he totally dominated Viktor to easily win the second game and push the match into the decider. It remained an even contest till the time Viktor was leading 12-10. But Srikanth suddenly found legs to clinch an incredible 11 successive points to win the game without breaking a sweat.“I didn't play my best in the first game, so I was disappointed. I was down 20-13 and then got few points which made me think that there is another game that I can play. In the second game, I started well and got my confidence back. In the decider, he was leading till 11 and then it became 12-12. I continued exerting pressure on him which resulted in those incredible 11 points,” he said.