Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth stayed on course for his second successive international title after he defeated local hope Pannawit Thongnuam 21-11, 21-15 in just 36 minutes on Sunday to reach the final of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold tournament in Bangkok on Saturday.
The world number 24, who bagged his maiden Superseries title last month, completely dominated the opening game. Thongnuam tried hard to take the fight to the Indian in the second game, but the final outcome hardly looked in doubt.
The third seed will now take on fourth seed Jonathan Christie in the summit clash on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Indian should definitely start as a favourite against a player ranked three places below him given the form he has displayed in the competition so far.
Sai has not dropped a single game in the competition and if Saturday’s encounter was any indication, the Gopichand Academy trainee seems to have put in the hard yards for over a month to prepare for this three-tournament circuit.
His net game was impeccable on Saturday and Thongnuam struggled to tackle the cross court dribbles from Sai and ended up making unforced errors while trying to play tighter to put pressure on his opponent.
In the second game, Thongnuam raised the tempo of the match and tried to attack more, but Sai was smart enough to mix his strokes and caught the Thai on the wrong foot on a couple of occasions to sail through the game and match.
Saina loses tight match
In the women’s side, there was disappointment for India as second seed Saina Nehwal lost a close match to local girl Busanan Ongbumrungpan 19-21, 18-21 in the semi-finals. This means the women’s singles final will be an all-Thai affair, with top seed Ratchanok Intanon also making it to the summit clash.
Fourth seed Ongbumrungpan took an early 3-0 lead in the first game before Nehwal fought back to make it 6-6. As the game reached the midway point, Nehwal looked to have found her groove as she produced some great drop shots and wrong-footed her opponent a couple of times. The game went right down to the wire to 19-19, before the local girl won the next two points to take the lead.
The second game progressed the same way, with both players battling hard and remaining neck and neck. Nehwal had a 11-8 lead at the halfway point, but Ongbumrungpan launched a spirited fightback in the second half to take the game 21-18.