Second seed Jan Van Den Herrewegen of Belgium showed perfect control over proceedings to douse the enthusiasm out of the Indian seventh seed Abhay Singh in three straight games 11-5, 12-10, 11-7 as he entered the final of the Aston and Fincher Sutton Coldfield International, a PSA challenger event in London late on Friday.
It was a repeat of the semi-final last year with one difference, Abhay had the last laugh then in what was a five-game battle. Jan had learnt the lesson and played with clear haste to start with to unsettle the Indian.
Showing variety in his strokes, Jan forced Abhay to mistakes. However in the second game Abhay gave glimpse of a possible turnaround as he made short of an early 1-5 arrears to force the Belgian to err. Abhay even had a game ball but Jan was able to wriggle out to win on extended points and that virtually sealed the match for him.He cruised through the next to win the match.
It brought an end to Abhay’s thrilling run in the tournament, who had earlier beaten fourth seed Robert Downer of England 10-12, 9-11, 11-8,11-5, 11-7 to reach the last four, where he made a comeback despite being two games down in a crunch tie.