India’s ace shuttler Srikant Kidambi has gotten into a serious habit of breaking records and winning Super Series as the 24-year-old has clinched the French Open to make fourth Super Series of the year.
The eight seed Kidambi defeated Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-14, 21-13 in Paris to cement his status as badminton’s King of Pace, a title even his legendary coach Gopichand approves.
With the win, Srikanth becomes the first Indian to win four Super Series in a year and only the fourth men’s singles player to win four or more Super Series in a calendar year. The 24-year-old’s 2017 titles include two back-to-back wins (that’s 20 matches; 10 unbeaten each time).
Apart from the Indian, only Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long have won men’s singles titles at four Super Series events in a calendar year. Twice this year, Srikanth has won back-to-back Super Series titles -- Denmark and French this month and Indonesia and Australia consecutively in June. Only Lee Chong Wei has done that before.