With a thrilling victory over world No. 5 Indonesian Jonatan Christie, Kidambi Srikanth of India advanced to the Malaysia Open’s second round.
Kidambi Srikanth of India defeated world number five Jonatan Christie of Indonesia on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur to go to the second round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton event. After going through a long period of inactivity, the 30-year-old from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, shocked everyone by defeating sixth seed Christie 12-21 21-18 21-16 in the one-hour and five-minute opening round match. Next up for the former world champion is NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong.
A silver medallist at the 2021 World Championships, Srikanth has frequently found it difficult to maintain the pressure in a three-game match, leading to several early exits. However, on Tuesday, he looked flawless as he continued to attack even after dropping the first game to win.
Though he had beaten the Indonesian six times in their eleven games, Srikanth always faced some difficult opponents.
Srikanth struggled to get off to a solid start in the opening game of the new season, behind 4-7 at one point. Although he was able to equalize the score temporarily (8–7), Christie’s nine-point burst destroyed all of Srikanth’s aspirations.In the second game, Parupalli Kashyap was the coach. Srikanth had an early 4-0 lead, but Christie quickly closed the gap to take an 11-7 lead at halftime. At one point, the Indonesian led the match 17–14 as well, but Srikanth stormed back with seven straight points to take the lead.Srikanth struggled once more in the decisive as Christie controlled the rallies, going from 5-0 to 14-9.As the tide began to turn, though, the Indian exploited his attacking returns and precise placements to make Christie twist and turn.
As Srikanth reversed the tide with a seven-point surge to go up 16–14, the Indonesian also committed a couple careless mistakes. The Indian then maintained his composure and struck the air when his opponent went long once more.
