Srikanth, Intanon clinch Denmark Open titles

Indian shuttler Srikanth Kidambi clinched his third Superseries title of the season as he crushed South Korean Lee Hyun II to win the men’s singles title of the Denmark Open yesterday. Eighth seed Srikanth cantered to a 21-10, 21-5 win in just 25 minutes as he added to the titles of Australian Open and Indonesian Open in the season. Overall, it was his fifth Superseries title.Playing in his fourth Superseries final of the year, the 24-year-old was dominant from the beginning, determining the pace of the game. World No.15 Lee hardly got a grip of Srikanth’s tenacity, placements and the variety of his strokes.  In the first game, Lee showed stomach to fight for points, taking a 3-1 lead. But Srikanth equalised 3-3 before holding a 4-3 lead. Lee fought back and equalised in the very next action.The Indian held an 11-6 lead in the first game till the mid-game break and then Srikanth kept firing winners and forcing Lee to make unforced errors.Lee many times was not even able to pick up Srikanth’s serves – either he was slow to react or wrongly anticipated the pace and flight of the shuttle. With his smashes falling in place, Srikanth raced to a 21-10 win in the first game. The second game was a one-way traffic, with a ruthless clinching of one point after another. A demoralised Lee conceded the match too easily. A 10-point lead at the mid-game break meant there was no stopping Srikanth. He then continued his impressive show to win the second game 21-5.Meanwhile, Thailand’s former world champion Ratchanok Intanon won the women’s singles title, beating Japanese fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi 14-21, 21-15, 21-19. Chinese players Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan won the men’s doubles title, overcoming Indonesian rivals Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 21-16, 22-24, 21-19, reports Xinhua news agency.In the women’s doubles final, South Koreans Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan beat Japanese sixth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto of Japan 21-13, 21-16. The mixed doubles title went to the Hong Kong pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet, who upset Chinese top seeds Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen 24-22, 19-21, 23-21.