Kidambi Srikanth once again proved his ability to grind out points when under pressure as the Denmark Open champion bounced back from the first game drubbing to defeat defending champion Shi Yuqi in the quarterfinals of the French Super Series in Paris on Friday.

For the most part of the 61 minute encounter, Srikanth looked tired and struggled to handle Shi’s deceptive drops and down the line smashes. But the 24-year-old flung himself on the floor to just keep the shuttle in play in the second game, played flat rallies and then went for the kill after the gaining the upper hand to win 8-21, 21-19, 21-9 to set up an all-Indian semi-final clash against H S Prannoy.

Earlier, Prannoy had defeated South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-16, 21-16 to reach his second Superseries semifinal of the year.

The All Indian semifinal clash also ensured that India will have a finalist in the men’s singles category for the fifth time this year in 10 Superseries events.

Srikanth has been in the summit clash of all the previous four beginning with the first all-Indian final between him and eventual champion B Sai Praneeth in Singapore Open while Prannoy hasn’t played in a Superseries final so far.

Slow start, dominating finish

However, the possibility of an All-Indian semifinal looked bleak when Srikanth struggled for control in the opening game and even the commentators felt that the five-time Superseries champion felt tired and struggled to move well.

The fast courts also meant that there was very little margin for error while defending and the coaches were constantly telling Srikanth to push the pace and keep the shuttle down. But it was proving to be a struggle for the world number four and to counter that he resorted to playing the flatter rallies to keep pace with Shi.

It still looked all over for the Indian when the Chinese opened up a two point lead at 16-18. But Srikanth won a 38 shot rally in which he flung himself on the court and probably suffered a couple of bruises but came out with a valuable point. He then scored two quick points to take the lead and pocketed the game on the first opportunity to take the match into the decider.

The third game was a cakewalk for Srikanth as Shi probably struggled to come to terms with the loss in the second game and conceded 8-1 lead and never managed to take the fight to his opponent.

Prannoy on song

Earlier, Prannoy needed 47 minutes to see of the challenge of Jeon to avenge his loss in the Canada Open earlier this year.

Prannoy never looked under pressure through out the match and though Jeon managed to put up a better fight in the second game the outcome was never in question.

The 25-year-old hasn’t dropped a game in the tournament so far and that should give him confidence to take on any opponent, including the formidable Srikanth to try and reach his first Superseries final.

The duo hasn’t faced each other since January 2015 and the fast conditions could come in handy for Prannoy on Saturday.

Satwik, Shetty win hearts

But before the singles success, the young Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty suffered a heartbreak against second seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark in the quarterfinals.

The Indian duo, who were playing in only their second Superseries quarterfinals, managed to win just five points in the opening game but came back to take the second. It ultimately boiled down to the experience of the Danes who managed to control the rallies better in the business end of the decider to win 21-5, 17-21, 21-17 in 59 minutes.

But even the Danes would not have expected such a fight from the Indian combination after the first game debacle. Satwik and Shetty struggled to control the shuttle in the opener but quickly learnt from their mistakes to play flatter and faster.

While Satwik’s big smashes fetched them points, Shetty was brilliant on the net with his quick hands and anticipation.