CHINA OPEN - Saina, Srikanth in final

It surely is an epoch-making moment for Indian badminton. For the first time after Super Series and Premier tournaments were introduced, Indian shuttlers stormed into the title round of both the men's and women's singles at the same event of such stature.
The final appearance of Saina Nehwal, who won several titles including 'Premier', may not be big news but Kidambi Srikanth's entry into the summit round of the China Open is indeed an unparalleled accomplishment.This is the first time in recent memory that an Indian has progressed this far in a Premier tournament.
In the semifinals at Fuzhou on Saturday, Saina drubbed China's Xin (F) Liu 21-17, 21-17 and Srikanth eased past an injured March Zwiebler of Germany who retired while trailing 11-21, 713. Olympic bronze medalist Saina will now face reigning world junior champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan while Srikanth will square up against the legendary Lin Dan of China in the finals on Sunday.
Srikanth is quite excited after reaching his maiden Premier final. "I am very, very happy to reach the final, that too in a Super Series Pre mier. Feeling so good as this is the first time I reached the title round in China," Srikanth told TOI on Saturday.
Though Srikanth (world No. 16) is nine rungs above the German in the world rankings, the latter displayed great form in this tournament as he accounted for world champion Chen Long in the second round and Parupalli Kashyap in the quarterfinals. "He tried for outright points but I just kept retrieving everything and attacked whenever I could. It was not easy but I stayed focused throughout the match," Srikanth said.
Srikanth dominated the first game as Zwiebler struggled to keep pace with the Indian.