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Top seed Sameer Verma survived a scare to book his berth in the semi-finals of the Hyderabad Open 2018 on Friday. The World No. 21 came back from a game down to edge Pratul Joshi 16-21, 26-24, 21-7 in 56 minutes.
With that win, he set up a blockbuster all-Indian last-four clash with 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt. The latter had to do it the hard way, clawing his way back after a poor start to notch up a 13-21, 22-20, 21-11 win over Malaysia's Lim Chi Wing.
While the men's singles section is now guaranteed to have an Indian finalist, the women's singles section does not have any Indian in the semi-finals. Rising star Rasika Raje's giant-killing run was halted in the quarter-finals when she went down 19-21, 8-21 to South Korea's Sim Yu Jin. Raje had earlier upset the second seed Lyanny Alessandra Mainaky in the first round.
India had good results in doubles at this Super 100 tournament being staged in Hyderabad for the first time. The top seeded mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy made it through to the semi-finals after a hard-fought battle in the quarter-finals, that saw them beating the Hong Kong pair of Yeung Ming Nok and NG Tsz Yau 22-20, 14-21, 21-17. Up next for them are the fifth seeds Chang Tak Ching and NG Wing Yung.
In men's doubles, top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty set up a semi-final clash with the fourth seeds Arun George and Sanyam Shukla. The Commonwealth Games silver medallists were largely untroubled in their 21-13, 21-10 win over the sixth seeds Tarun Kona and Lim Khim Wah.
George and Shukla too did not drop a game on their way to a 21-17, 21-15 win over Hong Kong's Chan Tsz Kit and Yeung Shing Choi.
Second seeds Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran, however, did not have the same good fortunes and were beaten 12-21, 19-21 by the fifth seeds Mohamad Arif Ab Latif Arif and Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn.
