The Babu Banarasi Stadium in Lucknow witnessed multiple shocks on Saturday as some of the biggest names departed in the semi-finals of the 2017 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold. The foremost among them was the mixed doubles upset of the top seeded Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen. The Danes bowed out in a nail-biting encounter, losing 21-19, 18-21, 18-21 to the seventh seeded Indian duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy in a battle that lasted 1 hour 11 minutes.
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All-Indian mixed doubles final
Their victory ensured an all-Indian final in the mixed doubles category for the first time in the history of the tournament as Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy had already advanced to the summit clash. The second seeds notched up a comfortable 21-18, 21-13 win over the Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen.
The men’s singles category also saw a big upset as the defending champion Kidambi Srikanth too made an exit. The third seed looked in complete control of the match after the opening game against the ninth seed B Sai Praneeth. But the latter made a remarkable turnaround the second game onwards and even a late surge from Srikanth could not deter him as he wrapped it up, 15-21, 21-10, 21-17 in 59 minutes.
In the other semi-final it was the eighth seeded Sameer Verma who emerged a 21-15, 21-11 winner over the 15th seeded Harsheel Dani.
PV Sindhu cruises
There was no stutter or stumble for the women’s singles top seed PV Sindhu who continued her smooth, effortless run through the draw. The Rio Olympic silver medallist staved off a challenge from the fourth seed Fitriani Fitriani in the second game to win, 21-11, 21-19 in 38 minutes.
It marked Sindhu’s third appearance in the final of this event. She will be meeting the unseeded Gregoria Mariska of Indonesia as she seeks her first title at this venue.
Meanwhile, both Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will be fighting for double glory on Sunday as they have also entered the women’s doubles final. The two, who are a newly-formed pair, came back from a game down to edge past compatriots Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil, 18-21, 21-12, 21-13 to set up a clash with the top seeds Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen.
No Indians remain in the men’s doubles draw and the final will be contested by the top seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen and the eighth seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.
