Kidambi Srikanth’s jolting win over Viktor Axelsen in the quarters, into semis of Denmark Open

Srikanth dazed the Dan Viktor Axelsen in the quarter finals at Denmark Open with 14-21, 22-20, 21-7 with 12 consecutive points in the decider being the showstopper of the match.

The duo’s meeting at the tournament is more like the avenge of Srikanth for his loss at the quarters of Japan Open against the world champion.

The match started with the dominance of local shuttler Viktor Axelsen in the opener. Srikanth scored his first point in the game at 3-1 before Axelsen scored 4 straight points to reach 7-1. Pushing himself up, the Indian managed to reach the Dane at 12-14. Viktor, later with his brilliant plays sealed the game with 21-14.

Losing the first game made Srikanth to push himself to bring up the country’s pride. He scuffled to win the second game against the world no. 1 Viktor. After swapping the close leads between the opponents, Srikanth undertook the domination by 10-9 before Viktor closed the first half with one point advantage of 11-10. The shuttlers carried away by the chronicle of close and intense rallies and reached the pinnacle of the game at 20-20, before Srikanth wrapped up the game with 22-20 and pushed the game to the decider.

In the decider, not taking any chance, Srikanth with his impenetrable 12 straight points seized the game with 21-7 and left the world no 1 Viktor clueless.

Saina and Prannoy toppled

Saina disappointed the spectators with her unexpected loss of 21-10, 21-13 against the fourth seeded Akane Yamaguchi; while Prannoy lost to the top seeded Son Wan Ho with 21-13, 21-18.