Live Chat
online
Create
A nervous Antonsen could not keep the momentum going and Sourabh capitalizes on it to march ahead to 20-18 where he converts on his first match point.
Once more it is the Dane who leads 18-16 but sees his lead getting vanished due to two grave errors from his racquet. Varma comes back to elevl 18-18.
Antonsen had grabbed a mini lead of 16-15 but he misjudged a Varma lob which caught the line and the game was back to being level at 16-16.
It is a close fight post-interval and Antonsen is keeping it very close with Varma. The Indian, however, still has a slender lead of 14-13.
Antonsen did manage to close the gap to 9-10 but a crucial error handed the advantage back to Varma, who went into the interval, leading 11-9.
Sourabh's aggressive smashes are doing the damage for Antonsen and the Indian now leads 10-7.
But once more it is the Indian who is thriving under pressure. Sourabh now leads 6-5.
But Antonsen has managed to cut down on his errors and has wrested control to lead 5-3.
In the second game, Varma has taken a slender lead of 3-2.
It has not taken long for the Indian to establish his authority. Varma clinches the opening game, 21-15.
Varma is not keen to rush things and is calmly handling the proceedings. He is now ahead 19-15.
Antonsen is looking weary at the moment and his game too has become error-riddled. That has helped Varma to soar to 16-14.
Varma's experience and patience now making a difference as he now makes the big push for 14-12.
The first game continued to be extremely hard-fought and competitive with none of the players giving the other an inch of space. The two were locked till 10-10 before Antonsen took a vital point to go into the break with an 11-10 lead.
Varma even snatched the lead to inch ahead 7-6 before the Dane managed to level it 7-7 with a fabulous smash.
Varma now cleverly engaging the young Dane in long rallies and making him move all over the court. The tactic has so far paid off and the Indian has closed the gap to 4-6.
Antonsen is the reigning junior European champion who has been on the rise for his aggressive game, loaded with a lot of pace. And he is making his game do the talking as he surges to an early 4-2 lead.
Even at this tournament, Varma has beaten three seeds and would hope to continue that streak.
Elder brother Sourabh is first up against the 15th seed Anders Antonsen and this is their first meeting. Sourabh has been on a good run of late and has come to this tournament on the back of winning the Chinese Taipei Masters title last month.
Good evening and welcome to the Sportskeeda liveblog of the Bitburger Open semi-finals. It has been a great tournament so far for the Verma brothers - Sourabh and Sameer, both of whom have reached the last-four stage at this Grand Prix Gold event.
Live Chat
online
FINAL SCORE: 21-15, 21-18 win for Sourabh Varma