Bangkok, Jan 22: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa entered the mixed doubles semifinal with a stunning win, but Sameer Verma’s impressive run at the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 tournament came to an end after a gruelling battle here on Friday.
The unseeded pair of Satwik and Ashwini stunned fifth seeds and world no 6 Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia 18-21 24-22 22-20 after toiling hard for one hour and 15 minutes in a nail-bitting quarterfinal duel.
The world no 22 Indian pair next will be up against top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
However, Sameer’s giant-killing run came to an end after he squandered a match point to go down 13-21 21-19 20-22 to world no 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a men’s singles quarterfinal contest.
In the opening game, Antonsen was up 5-0 with Sameer looking tentative and struggling with his length, hitting long and wide.
The Danish shuttler continued his good run, managing to keep a six-point advantage at the break. Sameer couldn’t engage his rival in long rallies or put any kind of pressure and also struggled with his shots as Antonsen cantered to eight game points and took the opening game when the Indian went wide again. (PTI)
