Russian Open | Sourabh Verma beats Mithun Manjunath to seal finals berth

Russian Open | Sourabh Verma beats Mithun Manjunath to seal finals berth

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Sourabh Verma overcame compatriot Mithun Manjunath in a one-sided all Indian semi-final to advance to the final of Russian Open, where he will now face Japan’s Koki Watanabe. The mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg also reached the final with a hard-fought win that went to a decider.

Sourabh, who came into the tournament as the eighth seed, was the favorite to win right from the beginning and started off well before Mithun leveled things at 3-3. However, that was pretty much the only comeback the unseeded player could make in the first game as Sourabh took a four-point lead instantly before leading his opponent 11-5 at the break. The game was pretty much sealed then and there as Mithun could add only four more points to his tally before going down 21-9.

He was expected to attempt a fight back in the second game and Sourabh had to deal with a closely-fought battle to seal the match. Though the experienced star started with the lead, Mithun leveled things at 4-4 and 6-6 before trailing at the break by a narrow margin of 11-10. The game didn’t lose its intensity until 14-13 with Mithun very much in the game. However, post that, the 20-year-old's stamina ran out and Sourabh was quick to capitalize and take a 19-13 lead before winning 21-15.

Sourabh has looked sharp in the 100 Series tournament so far, beating third-seeded Misha Zilberman of Israel in the quarter-finals. He will face a tough challenge in the summit clash against Japan’s Watanabe, who beat Vladimir Malkov in straight games.

In other games, while men’s doubles’ Arun George and Sanyam Shukla lost to Russia’s Konstantin Abramov and Alexandr Zinchenko 21-15, 21-19 in the semis, mixed doubles pairing of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg endured a one-hour match against Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Yen Wei Peck to win it 21-19, 11-21, 22-20.

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