B Sai Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title by downing compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 in the Singapore Open final. This was Praneeth's first appearance in a Super Series final, the biggest events of the international badminton calendar. Previously, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Srikanth have won the coveted crown.
Until Sunday, only three other countries - China, Indonesia and Denmark - had been represented on both sides of the court. After losing the first game 17-21, Praneeth showed tremendous grit to come back from being 1-6 in the dumps to level at 7-7. Srikanth tied to assert his dominance with a superb smash down the line to take a 8-7 lead but Praneeth seemed determined to go into the break 11-10, winning 10 of the 14 points on the bounce.
Leading 18-16, Praneeth showed great awareness to outfox Srikanth who relied on his smashes and netplay to dink the cork over his head when he was closer to the net for a sublime point. Three game points to play for, Praneeth returned the favour this time with an identical 21-17 win to hang the final game perfectly in balance. In the final game, Praneeth opened up a 10-4 lead and never looked back as Srikanth made an error.
Srikanth, who has a fair bit of experience having played in two finals and winning both the 2015 India Open and 2014 China Open, never looked settled after the first game.
