ODENSE, Oct 15: Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth stormed into the Denmark Open quarterfinals with a straight-game win over Canada�s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue here on Thursday. The fifth seeded Indian took 33 minutes to get the better of his Canadian opponent 21-15, 21-14 in the men�s singles second round of the USD 750,000 Super 750 tournament, the only world tour event happening this year in a calendar thrown haywire by the COVID-19 pandemic. The BWF was forced to cancel multiple tournaments and postpone the Asia leg and the World Tour Final to January next year due to the pandemic.
�It was close until 11 in both games. I�m just happy that I could continue that form throughout the match. I had to be alert to get back the shots,� Srikanth told BWF. The 27-year-old is likely to face World No. 2 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, who meets Ireland�s Nhat Nguyen later in the day.
Talking about Chou Tien Chen, Srikanth said: �He�s been playing well for the last few years. It�s definitely a match where I can understand where I�m at. That�s the whole idea of playing this tournament.
�He hits hard, he�s someone who has an overall game, he has a hard smash, he knows when to attack and when to defend. He has matured. It�s always good when you play a top 4 player.�
In the opening game, Srikanth zoomed to a 9-4 lead before grabbing a three-point advantage at the break.
The Indian then reeled off six points to create a huge gap, which Jason couldn�t bridge.
Srikanth fell behind 5-8 in the second game but bounced back with six straight points to reach 11-8 at the interval. The Canadian made it 10-11 after resumption.
Srikanth then stepped up the pace and was immediately rewarded as he opened up a 15-10 lead. � PTI
