The 2021 Indonesia Masters has started, with the first round matches being held – as one of the Men’s Singles encounters was played between India’s Srikanth Kidambi and France’s Christo Popov on Wednesday, 17th November 2021.
The ongoing Indonesia Masters is a Super 750 Level Tournament held at the Bali International Convention Centre located at Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. It is being contested from 16th to 21st November.
Meanwhile, the tournament got upgraded from a Super 500 into a Super 750 this year.
Indonesia Masters 2021 First Round: Srikanth Kidambi survives a fightback, advances to the next round
Meanwhile, this Men’s Singles 1st Round match was played at Court 3. The Indian Srikanth Kidambi is World No. 15 whereas his opponent France’s Christo Popov is Ranked 71st in the world.
In the Head-to-Head Record, this is their first meeting.
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At the 2021 Indonesia Masters, both Kidambi and Popov are unseeded. In the First Round encounter, the Indian shuttler won the 1st Game by 21-18. It was a neck-to-neck encounter. However, in the start 19-year-old, Christo Popov was leading by 2-8 but Srikanth Kidambi fought back earning 6 straight points & levelled it 8-8. During the mid-game interval , Kidambi was leading by just 1 point.
Then at 17-17, the 28-year-old Indian won a few points & eventually the game too.
Meanwhile, in the 2nd Game, the youngster was leading by a margin of points in the start which he maintained throughout this game as he didn’t let Srikanth Kidambi be ahead even once. Popov eventually won by 21-15 & took this match into the decider.
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In the 3rd Game, Kidambi, unlike the earlier two games, was leading from the start. He had a 6-1 lead. By the mid-game interval, the Indian was leading by 11-7. But there was a fightback by Popov as he won five continuous points, 13-7 to 13-12 made the Indian wake up. He was ahead by points till the end. Srikanth Kidambi won the decider by 21-16 & clinched the match.
As a result, Srikanth Kidambi won against Christo Popov by 21-18, 15-21, 21-16 in about 1h 15m. Srikanth Kidambi has advanced into the next round where he will face either Sitthikom Thammasin or Jonatan Christie.
