India’s national champion Sourabh Verma reached his second BWF Super 100 final of the year when he defeated Japan’s Minoru Koga 22-20, 21-15 in the semi-finals of Vietnam Open in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.
Verma, who had beaten two Japanese players in the earlier rounds, was slow to get off the blocks as the Japanese clinched the first four points of the match but restored parity at 6-6 and it looked like he could race through the opening game when he opened up a 14-9 lead.
However, Koga fought back by bagging seven of the nine points from 13-17 deficit to earn a game point. Verma saved that and won the next two to draw first blood.
The Japanese had the momentum in his favour when he took the 8-3 lead in the second game but Verma engaged him in long rallies and slowly but surely turned the tables. The Indian dropped just one point from 12-14 to clinch the game and the match in 51 minutes.
The world No 38 is yet to drop a game in this tournament as the second seed
The second seed, who had won the Hyderabad Open last month and the Dutch Open and Korea Open titles last year, will now take on China’s Sun Fei Xiang in the summit clash. Sourabh had beaten Minoru en route to his title win at the Slovenian International. earlier this year.