Kidambi Srikanth’s Superseries drought extended as the Indian shuttler went down 9-21, 23-25 to Lee Cheuk Yiu in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open on Saturday.
Srikanth, the only Indian shuttler alive at the BWF Super 500 event in Hong Kong, squandered seven games points in the second game, failing to enforce a decider.
Lee hardly broke a sweat in the opening game as he won 21-9 in just 14 minutes. He raced to a 8-1 lead and dictated the pace of the game as Srikanth committed plenty of unforced errors.
Srikanth fought back and used his backhand to good effect in the second game, as he maintained a healthy lead. But the Indian went into a meltdown following the mid-game interval in what was a passive display from him, wasting seven game points.
Lee, who became only the second local men single’s player to reach the Hong Kong Open final, will now face either Jonatan Christie or Anthony Ginting.