P V Sindhu, double Olympic medalist, and HS Prannoy delivered trailblazing performances at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament to make their way to the women’s and men’s finals, respectively.
Sindhu, who’s currently World No. 7 took Thailand’s Supanida Katethong to the cleaners, with a scoresheet reading 21-18 15-21 21-19 after 79 minutes of gameplay. Meanwhile, Prannoy had a hard-fought victory against Indonesia’s world number 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting with the scoreboard showing 21-19 19-21 21-18 at the end of the game.
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After the match, Prannoy tweeted, “Yessssss ! Finals of the Swiss Open! Quite a tough one against Ginting tonight! Happy to get that win today. One more to go, Let’s get it”.
Sindhu, who’s seeded second, will take on Thai player and fourth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the big match, while Prannoy will go up against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the men’s finals, Sunday.
Kidambi Srikanth, on the other hand, lost to Christie, the Asian games champion. Despite winning the first round, the World Championships silver medallist squandered the advantage to lose the game 21-18 7-21 13-21. This is Srikanth’s third tournament after he tested positive for COVID.
When the finals take place, Prannoy and Christie will have an interesting head to head, with the former having beaten the latter thrice and losing four encounters out of their last seven clashes. Sindhu, meanwhile, is a favourite starting off, having beaten her opponent 15 out of the 16 times they met.
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The semi-finals saw a tough match take place with Sindhu managing to emerge unscathed from her encounter with the Thai pro. It boiled down to a game of consistency, as Sindhu and Supanida both fought to control the front court. Luck sided with the Hyderabadi shuttler, who managed to get match point with a 19-19 score. She sealed the results with another powerful smash.
