Sourabh Verma upset compatriot and second seed HS Prannoy at the US Open Super 300 badminton event in Fullerton on Friday to be the last standing Indian at the tournament.
Verma saved two game points to win 21-19, 23-21 in 50 minutes to progress to the semi-finals.
Verma will be hoping to clinch his second title of the year on Sunday as he takes on unseeded Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the semi-final on Saturday.
It was a hard-fought quarter-final between Verma and Prannoy, but the latter was left to play catch-up for the most part. Twice in the first game Verma had four-point leads (at 11-7 and 17-13) and on both occasions Prannoy fought back to level things up. But Verma held his own to win the first game on his second game point.
In the second game, there was hardly anything to choose between the two shuttlers. Every time Verma opened up a gap, Prannoy fought back to level things. The second seed even had the lead at 16-15, 20-19 and 21-20 but Verma did not give up. But the 2018 Indian Senior Nationals Championship winner fought to stave off those game points to clinch the match in two games in 50 minutes.
With this win, Verma maintained his unbeaten run against Prannoy on the BWF circuit, having won on all three previous occasions.
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