SaarLorLux Open 2018: Subhankar Dey enters final with a hard-fought win

Indian shuttler Subhankar Dey continues his rampaging run at the SaarLorLux Open as he made it to the final of this Super 100 tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany with yet another hard-fought win. The latest to become the World No. 64’s victim was the 208th ranked Ren Pengbo of China, who fell 18-21, 21-11, 22-24 in 1 hour 8 minutes.

Up next for the unseeded Dey is the fifth seed and World No. 37 Rajiv Ouseph. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist emerged a 21-8, 19-21, 21-19 winner over France’s Toma Junior Popov in 61 minutes.

The two have never met and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this match, with both having spent more than an hour in their respective semi-final matches.

Even though Ouseph is the more experienced campaigner, the 25-year-old Dey has had some hugely confidence-boosting wins throughout this week. He accounted for his idol, Lin Dan to enter the quarter-finals, where he upset the seventh seed Toby Penty as well.

So far Dey has won four titles at the International level, besides having finished as the runner-up in five others. This is the first time he has reached the final of a tournament higher than that level.

Earlier this year, the Kolkata-born and Copenhagen-based Indian also made it to the final of the Kabal International Karvina 2018, where he lost to Victor Svendsen in two tight games.

Dey remains the last Indian standing at this Super 100 tournament after losses suffered by the eighth seed Parupalli Kashyap, Pratul Joshi, and Harsheel Dani. While Kashyap continued his comeback from injury by reaching the quarter-finals, Joshi and Dani bowed out in the first and second rounds respectively.

The top Indian shuttlers have taken a break this week in order to prepare for the hectic Asian swing that begins with the China Open from November 6.