Ajay Jayaram’s dream run at the Malaysia Open came to an end as South Korea’s Son Wan-ho beat the Indian 21-18, 21-14 in the quarter-finals in Keching on Friday in a match that lasted 37 minutes. This was Jayaram’s fourth successive loss to Son. The two had last squared off in 2013 China Open.
In both the games, the fifth seed had the measure of his opponent although Jayaram did make a fine late surge in the first before narrowly going down 21-18. The Chennai had a better start in the second game but Son shut out all hopes of a comeback by reeling off points in a stretch.
Ajay Jayaram loses 18-21, 14-21 to Son Wan Ho to end his #MalaysiaSSP campaign. His win over Axelsen was the highlight of the tournament.
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 7, 2017
Jayaram, on Thursday rallied hard to stun fourth seed Viktor Axelsen in a thrilling three-game match. The Indian notched a 9-21, 21-14, 21-19 in a match that lasted 44 minutes. In the opening round, Jayaram defeated China’s Qiao Bin in straight sets 21-11, 21-8, in under 31 minutes to complete a comfortable win. The loss also signals the end of the road for India in the Superseries tournament across all disciplines.
The fifth seed, Son, will now play either two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan or Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the semi-final.
