Lucknow
K. Srikanth moved closer to his maiden World Tour title this year, entering the final of the Syed Modi India International 2025 with a jittery three game win against Mithun Manjunath here on Saturday to be the host’s last remaining singles hope in the tournament.
Srikanth won 21-15, 19-21, 21-13 against his younger counterpart in just under an hour to set up a title clash with Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong. The latter survived a scare against unheralded Minoru Koga of Japan, losing the first game before recovering to dominate the second, reeling off 14 straight points and leading 11-0 in the decider before Koga withdrew.
Treesa Jolly and Gaytri Gopichand, meanwhile, stayed on course to defend their title with an easy 21-11, 21-15 win against the Malaysian pair of Xin Yee Ong and Carmen Ting, dominating from the start and keeping control of the match all through.
Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma lost their respective semifinals to bow out of the competition in similar fashion, unforced errors and inconsistency taking their toll. While Tanvi lost to Japan’s Hina Akechi 21-17, 21-16, Unnati went down to Neslihan Arin of Turkey 21-15, 21-10. “There were a lot of mistakes made and I still have a lot of work to do in my game,” Tanvi admitted.
Tanvi’s attempts to go wide did not work and her deceptive net play, usually on point, were ineffective against the quick-footed Hina. Unnati too suffered from too many shots going too wide, unable to control her shots against Neslihan, the Turkish 31-year-old making her first ever World Tour final. The longer the rallies went, the more in control Neslihan got, making Unnati work hard for every point.
Srikanth had to work hard for his points against Mithun before finding his rhythm in the decider and admitted it was tough. “There was a slight drift but not uncontrollable. But he played really well, like he always does against me. It was important for me to start well in the 3rd game and minimise the mistakes and I was able to do that,” he added.
The results (semifinals): Men: Singles: K. Srikanth bt Mithun Manjunath 21-15, 19-21, 21-13; Jason Gunawan (Hkg) bt Minoru Koga (Jpn) 12-21, 21-8, 11-0 ret.; Doubles: Khai Xing Kang/Aaron Tai (Mas) bt Rodion Alimov/Maksim Ogloblin (Neutral) 21-15, 22-20; Weijie Chia/Sheng Hao Lwi (Mas) bt Mohd. Faiq/Hong Quan Lok (Mas) 21-5, 16-21, 21-17.
Women: Singles: Hina Akechi (Jpn) bt Tanvi Sharma 21-17, 21-16; Neslihan Arin (Tur) bt Unnati Hooda 21-15, 21-10; Doubles: Treesa Jolly/Hayatri Gopichand bt Xin Yee Ong/Carmen Ting (Mas) 21-11, 21-15; Kaho Osawa/Mai Tanabe (Jpn) bt Ya Ching Hsu/Yu-Hsuan Sung (Tpe) 21-15, 21-19.
Mixed doubles: Dejan Ferdinandsyah/Bernadine Wardana (Ina) bt Hariharan Amsakarunan/Treesa Jolly 21-17, 21-19; Pakkapon Teeraratsakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Marwan Faza/Aisyah Pranata 21-10, 21-12.