After Sai Praneeth and Srikanth Kidambi both made it to the semi-finals of the $350,000 OUE Singapore Open Superseries on Friday, the clamours are growing louder for an unexpected all-Indian final as the two Indians are on the opposite halves of the men’s singles draw.
Both of them beat higher-ranked, seeded players en route to the last-four, showing their grit and determination all the way. However, to set up that dream all-Indian summit clash, each needs to cross a tough hurdle.
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Here are all the details you need to know about the two upcoming semi-finals:
Competition: OUE Singapore Open Superseries 2017Venue: Singapore Indoor StadiumCategory: SuperseriesDate: Saturday, April 15, 2017Round: Semi-finalsTime: B Sai Praneeth vs Lee Dong Keun around 2pm ISTSrikanth Kidambi vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting around 2.15pm ISTChannel: Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD4Live streaming: Star Sports Hotstar
Preview
B Sai Praneeth (World Ranking: 30) vs Lee Dong Keun (World Ranking: 35)
Head-to-head: Lee leads 1-0
The former World Junior Championships bronze medallist Sai Praneeth has always been considered a junior prodigy who could not make the transition to the senior citcuit well. Injuries and lack of confidence at crucial junctures of important matches have been responsible to his not converting his junior success into something substantial except for a few upset wins.
For the first time, the 24-year-old is looking to do more than just a few scattered match wins here and there at the elite level. Which is why, he is now at a career-high 30th after reaching the Syed Modi International final in January and has now followed it up by making it to his maiden Superseries semi-final.
He now faces an opponent – Lee Dong Keun – who did beat him in their only meeting back in 2015. Could Sai ride on his newfound self-belief to break through to the final?
Srikanth Kidambi (World Ranking: 29) vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (World Ranking: 26)
Head-to-head: They are tied at 1-1
In contrast to Sai, Srikanth has been an achiever at the highest level. His China Open Superseries Premier and India Open Superseries titles as well as a career-high No. 3 ranking validate it.
Just when he was looking at his confident best last year and made the Australian Open semi-finals and the Rio Olympics quarter-finals back-to-back, a stress fracture in his right ankle derailed him. Srikanth faced his longest hiatus from the BWF Tour in the last five years as he had to spend three months recuperating from the injury.
The Guntur-born shuttler has finally found his fighting spirit back at this week’s Singapore Open which was evident in the way he saved three match points against Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in the second round.
Anthony Sinisuka Ginting is a player he faced for the last time in 2015 and the Indian did get a win in that last showdown. If he can keep his errors at bay, he can definitely look to secure a final berth.
