Kidambi Srikanth beat Viktor Axelsen 21-15, 12-21,21-14 to win the 2015 Swiss Open title. It is the second Grand Prix gold title of his career after an historic win at the China Open last year.
Sustained pressure helped Srikanth
Axelsen got off to a superb start to lead 4-1 with fine skills near the net. Srikanth crawled back beautifully to level scores at 7-7 in the first game. Axelsen started to commit errors off his forehand and Srikanth was defending brilliantly to lead 11-9 at the interval. Both players won let points heading into the break.
Srikanth played aggressive badminton which included two outstanding smashes to Axelsen's forehand to lead 15-11.An unbelievable backhand crosscourt and and a forehand lob helped Srikanth lead 18-12. Axelsen tried to reduce the deficit ,but Srikanth took the first game 21-15 off his third game point.
Axelsen played smart badminton
The second game bore a similar resemblance to the first one with Axelsen playing attacking badminton coupled with unforced errors by the Indian. The Dane lead 9-3 after a smash from Srikanth went wide. Axelsen played the watching game and led 11-3 at the interval. Axelsen played a brilliant backhand passing shot extracting an error from Srikanth. The Indian won 6 of the 7 points to reduce the lead to 13-10, but the Dane won the next three points courtesy some fine volleying.
Srikanth netted couple of backhands to trail by 6 points in the second game. Srikanth's backhand lob went wide giving Axelsen the second game 21-12.
Srikanth all the way in the second half of last game
Srikanth started the third game with a superb volley which Axelsen failed to read. The Indian led 3-0 before Axelsen got back with aggressive play to lead 6-4. Srikanth ended a six point streak of the Dane with a let court. The Indian won three points off smashes to level scores at 9-9. The Indian led 11-10 at the interval.
Axelsen hit his forehand lob wide to give Srikanth a lead of 13-11. Srikanth netted a forehand as scores were level at 13-13. The No. 1 seed hit an amazing backhand shot to lead 15-13.
It was one way traffic as Srikanth took the third game 21-14 and the match.
He is the first Indian man to win the Swiss Open.