India Open 2019: Kidambi Srikanth scrapes to three-game win over China's Huang Yuxiang, faces Viktor Axelsen in final

New Delhi: India’s Kidambi Srikanth set aside the disappointment of repeated quarter-finals exits to rally to a 16-21, 21-14, 21-19 win over unseeded Chinese, Huang Yuxiang on Saturday.

The World No 7 was stretched to 64 minutes by 30th-ranked Yuxiang, who showed admirable defence in the demanding loss.

The win means Srikanth will face Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in a blockbuster final on Sunday. It will be the 26-year-old’s first Superseries-level final in 15 months – he played the final of the Commonwealth Games last year. The title drought that started in December 2017 has stretched to March 2019, and Srikanth would be hoping to finally put a stop to it on Sunday.

“I am looking forward to enjoying the final. Its been a while since I played one, so I am really happy,” he told mediapersons after the win.

Saturday’s laboured win came with its own set of learnings for the Indian, the chief among them being the need to cut down on unforced errors. Later, Srikanth admitted that at the mid-game break in the decider, which he led 11-10, he thought he had the game in the bag, only to be woken up by the Chinese who repeatedly chipped the lead away.

Srikanth entered the arena with a welcome befitting a rockstar, and got his first point when he nailed a smash in an empty court after drawing Huang to his left.

Huang was coaxed into a number of high tosses, giving enough opportunity to the Indian to fire in his smashes. The Chinese hung in and engaged Srikanth mostly in the net, ensuring the lead never got out of hand.

Srikanth was superb at the net, but lacked consistency with his high tosses and long rallies. Huang, dogged and determined, hung on as the pair went to the first break at 11-10 in Srikanth’s favour.

As the game wore on, Srikanth’s errors increased, with some of his deft touches failing to cross the net. If the thoughts of all those failures accrued over the past year crossed his mind, we will never know.

Srikanth reached from 12-14 to 14-all via two return errors from Huang, but soon erred himself to concede the lead. Huang looked in good rhythm, mixing his touches with fine placement. The 14-17 deficit became 14-19 when Srikanth first hit long and then failed to retrieve a forehand drive. He tried to engage Huang in long rallies to gain control, but the Chinese always found a way to bail out. At 20-14, finally Srikanth’s drop-smash returned, and a quick one-two at net earned him another point, but a wide return meant the first game was lost 21-16.

Post the change of ends, the Indian showed remarkably better control and court awareness. He covered the spaces well and directed his shots with precision.

Early in the game, he nailed a smash to jump to a 5-3 lead. At 5-4, Huang hit long and Srikanth built on the lead with a sharp return. At 7-4, the Indian played a delectable push at the net that went across Huang through the narrowest of corridors. As a bemused Huang looked on, the scoreboard flashed an 8-4 lead in the local favourite’s favour.

A poor toss next was duly punished with a thundering smash from Srikanth, who followed it with a dipping steep return to make it 10-4. The rhythm was back, even as Huang’s limitations opened up. The Indian led 11-4.

As Srikanth grew into the match, Huang’s control over the long tosses dwindled. Srikanth continued to dominate rallies, the occasional long returns notwithstanding. He moved to game-point after Huang erred at the net, and took the game 21-14 to leave the partisan crowd in raptures.

Next game, Srikanth flew to a 7-5 lead with a barrage of strokes, but like in the first game, Huang stuck in. Srikanth looked the better player, but Huang always found a way to counterpunch. Still, he gave enough room to Srikanth to bring our his deadly jump smashes, and the Indian obliged to make it 8-all. Another mean smash from mid-court off a tame return put him in lead but Huang responded in kind to draw parity again.

The cat-and-mouse game continued till Srikanth wrongfooted Huang at the net with an on-the-run half smash to go 11-10 lead.

“At that point, I thought it was my game,” he would later say. A clear over-estimation, if not complacency. Upon resumption, Srikanth gave away two early points to concede the lead, and Huang soon extended it to three points.

At 15-12, Srikanth pulled one back, but promptly frittered it away when his push hit the net. At 14-16, he hit the return long, but followed it with a typically mean smash and a net return to make it 16-17. A wild return made it 16-18 before he brought the deficit back to one point.

As the crowd got behind him, he placed a smash perfectly to Huang’s right at 17-18 to equalise. 18-18, and the two men walked away for a breather. The chants grew, the courts were wiped, and the fight resumed.

Srikanth took the crucial 19th point after a stunning rally where Huang transformed himself into a retrieving machine. Smashes and drives of varying pace and trajectories were fended off before Srikanth finally found a crosscourt return.

He moved to match point when Huang hit a net return wide, but Huang saved a point when he corrected the same return. 20-19. Another swordfight ensued, and finally, Huang’s return hit the net. Srikanth raised his arms – perhaps a first real show of emotion from him over the past week – and a wave of relief crossed his tired face.

“I think he played really well at 14-all in the first game. I am happy with the way I came back from that stage to 18-16 in the third. I thought of keeping the shuttle in play and not giving any easy points,” he later said.

“I gave him too many easy points after the 11-point break in the third game. In the end, I was just thinking about not repeating those mistakes and playing it a little safe and working hard for every point.” He sure did.