Jayaram, Attri-Reddy pair in Dutch Open badminton semifinals

10/10/2015

India’s Ajay Jayaram in men's singles and second-seeded pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy in men’s doubles entered the semifinals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton in Almere. However, ninth-seeded countryman RMV Gurusaidutt went down in a hard-fought quarterfinal clash against Estonian Raul Must.

World number 26, Jayaram beat Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 21-19, 18-21, 21-14 in 66 minutes. Attri and Reddy, runner-up in the Bulgarian International Challenge last week, recovered from a first set defeat to oust the fifth-seeded German pair of Max Schwenger and Joshe Zurwonne 18-21, 21-13, 21-19 in 54minutes.

Third seed Jayaram, who made his first Super Series final at the Korea Open last month to break back into the world’s top-25, won a close opening set. However, the Mumbai shuttler, who trains in Bengaluru, lost the second despite leading in the early part of the game.

The Indian shuttler maintained a stranglehold in the decider against the Malaysian and went on to win it comfortably. It is notable that the Malaysian had defeated India’s Anand Pawar in the opening round.

After losing a close opening game, Attri-Reddy, ranked 20 in the world, jumped to a 15-9 lead to eventually clinch the next game in a comprehensive manner. The decider, though, ran close for the most part before the Indians went up 18-15 and closed out the match with a spate of winners.

Attri-Reddy had beaten the Dutch pair of Mark Caljouw and Jelle Maas 21-13, 19-21, 21-18 in the second round late on Thursday.

World number 42 Gurusaidutt was beaten 19-21, 21-14, 21-18 by 12th seed Must in 66 minutes. The Indian, who finished runner-up at the Bulgarian International Challenge last week, edged out his opponent in the opening game after being level at 19.

Must, the 12th seed, came back strongly in the second as he took a four-point lead to move to 13-9 after their opponents had leveled at nine-all. Although the Indian fought back keenly, the Estonian maintained his control over the proceedings to win the second game.

The decider ran close till 15-all before Must broke away with a three-point lead and never conceded the advantage.