India's Kidambi Srikanth's dream season came to a close as he brushed aside the challenge of Japan's Kenta Nishimoto to win the French Open Super Series Men's singles title in Paris. After already completing a hat-trick of Super Series titles, he won his fourth title of the season this month. Seeded eight in the tournament, Srikant took just 34 minutes to get the better of his Japanese opponent 21-14 21-13 in the summit clash. The victory ensured he bags his second consecutive title in two weeks, after winning the Denmark Open in Odense last week.
He has now become the only fourth men's singles player to win four or more Super Series titles in a calendar year. Going by his current form, it was expected to be a one-sided summit clash and it turned out to be one, except for the first few points of the opening game which was a neck-and-neck fight between the two shuttlers. It was Nishimoto whos started off brightly to race to a 9-5 lead before Srikanth fought back to draw level at 9-9.
There onwards it was no looking back as the Indian used his court coverage and superior technique to take a 14-10 lead. Nishimoto did manage to take some points to reduce the margin to 15-14 before Srikanth used his experience at the highest level to pocket six straight points and win the first game. The Indian player continued his good form in the second game and won five straight points to take a commanding 10-2 lead. While the Japanese side tried to force a comeback and even managed to reduce the margin to 13-8, Srikanth showed class and superiority in crunch situations to keep his lead intact and win the game 21-13 and claim his second consecutive title.
