Denmark Open badminton: Sameer Verma upsets Asiad gold medallist; Ashwini-Sikki down world No 7 pair

Sameer Verma pulled off another big win at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament in Odense on Thursday by defeating Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie 23-21, 6-21, 22-20 in 70 minutes.

It was a day of upsets involving Indian shuttlers as Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy defeated the world No 7 pair in the women’s double pre-quarterfinals and Saina Nehwal downed world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi.

After defeating world No 2 Shi Yuqi in the first round, Verma upset world No 13 Christie in a topsy-turvy encounter. It was another superb result for the Verma, who has been India’s most consistent male shuttler on tour in 2018.

The opening game was a tight affair with neither player unable to establish a clear advantage. The Indian, ranked 10 places below Christie, held a three-point lead late in the game before Christie fought back. Verma had to save a game point before drawing first blood.

The second game was a completely one-sided affair with Christie taking an early lead and not letting Verma have a chance at catching up with him. He ran away with the game 21-6.

The decider was once a tight affair, where both players had significant leads before letting the other fight back. Christie started better, racing to a 8-3 lead before Verma fought back to take a 11-10 lead into the final change of ends. From 8-10 down, Sameer Verma won 7 straight points to take a 15-10 lead in the decider before the Indonesian fought back. Verma, then, had three match points, which were all saved by Christie. The Indian converted the fourth time of asking to record another impressive win.

Verma will face the winner of K Srikanth and Lin Dan later on Thursday.

Ashwini-Sikki progress

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy completed an excellent comeback to defeat world No 7 pairing of So He Lee and Seung Chan Shin 18-21, 22-20, 21-18 in 61 minutes. After losing a hard-fought first game, Ponnappa and Reddy were stretched all the way in the second game, with the scoreline reading 18-18, 19-19 and then 20-20 before the Indian pairing sneaked past 22-20. The world No 22 pair for India led for the most part of the decider to wrap up the match and progress to the quarter-final.

In an earlier match on Thursday, Saina Nehwal ended a run of six straight defeats against world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi with a 21-15, 21-17 in the pre-quarterfinals. She will face the Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the quarters.