Saina, Srikanth, Kashyap reach final, Sindhu ousted in Lucknow

Lucknow: It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, here.

Defending champion Saina was now one step away from retaining her women's singles title as she disposed off fourth seed Nichaon Jindapon of Thailand 21-10 21-16 in the semifinal at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

Saina will take on Spanish second seed and reigning World Champion Carolina Marin, who dispatched Sindhu 21-13 21-13 in her semifinal, which lasted 38 minutes.

In the men's singles, World No 5 Srikanth also continued his rampaging form and entered the finals for the second successive time with a hard-fought victory over compatriot H S Prannoy, who had clinched the Indonesia Masters last year.

The top seed Indian dropped the opening game before beating Prannoy 12-21 21-12 21-14 in a match that lasted for an hour and four minutes in the men's singles competition.
Srikanth will take on third seed compatriot Parupalli Kashyap, who rallied to beat Denmark's second seed Viktor Axelsen 18-21 22-20 21-7.

In doubles, it was curtains for fifth seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy as they were defeated by fourth seeds Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov of Russia 12-21 18-21.