National champion Sameer Verma stunned World No 3 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark to reach his maiden Super Series final while Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu made it to her second successive summit clash in women's singles at the Hong Kong Open, here on Saturday.
It was double bonanza for India at the Hong Kong Open, the last Super Series tournament of the season, as Sameer and Sindhu dished out some superb performances to make it a super Sunday for badminton fans.
The 22-year-old Sameer, who is the younger brother of Sourabh Verma, showed tremendous athleticism and accuracy in his strokes to notch up a hard-fought 21-19, 24-22 win over Denmark's Jorgensen, who had clinched the prestigious China Super Series Premier last week. Sameer, who came into the tournament as a qualifier, will fight for the title against local favourite Ng Ka long Angus.
Newly-crowned China Open champion, Sindhu, meanwhile, continued her rampaging run and disposed local shuttler Cheung Ngan Yi 21-14, 21-16 in a 46-minute match to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, seeded fourth, to lay claim for her second super series title. It is a rare occasion when two Indians have reached the finals of the men's and women's singles competition of any particular tournament. For records, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth had made the finals at 2014 China Open and 2015 India Open and both had emerged victorious.
More than 40 ranking points separated World No 43 Sameer from Jorgensen but all that didn't matter on Saturday as the Indian retrieved everything thrown at him by the Dane in the 46-minute fast-paced battle.
In one of the finest wins of his career, Sameer punched way above his weight as he opened up a massive 12-7 lead early on in the opening game. However, Jorgensen ensured he was not far behind as he clawed back to reduce the margin to 10-11 at the interval.
Jorgensen made Sameer run across the court but the young Indian was up for it most times and matched the Dane stroke for stroke to be 17-17.
Sameer marched ahead after that and grabbed three game points when the Dane hit the net. Sameer finally pocketed the first game after winning a video referral when Jorgensen hit long.
In the second game, Jorgensen started on an aggressive note, opening up a healthy 11-5 lead at the interval. But a gritty Sameer fought back to draw level at 12-12 and then took a slender 13-12 lead.
The experienced Jorgensen soon broke off and eked out a 17-14 lead first and then grabbed a 20-17 lead.
Sameer then showed his class as he engaged in some brilliant rallies and pushed the Dane into committing too many unforced errors to help the Indian save three game points and take a 21-20 lead. But in the end, the young Indian kept his calm to prevail in the 24-minute game after the Dane failed to return a shot and hit the net.
In women's singles, Sindhu, however, hardly broke any sweat as she defeated beat Cheung, an opponent she had beaten twice in the past at the 2014 Badminton Asia Championships and 2013 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold.
Pranaav-Sikki reach final
Glasgow: Top seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy is just one step away from notching up their second Grand Prix title of the season as the duo reached the finals of $55,000 Scottish Open, here on Saturday.
The World No 22 pair of Pranaav and Sikki, progressed to the summit clash after edging past Denmark duo of Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen 21-18, 23-21.