Andhra Pradesh lad Sai Dutt scored a comprehensive 21-16, 21-8 win over the second seed Bhat of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board to set up a title clash with fourth-seeded Ajay Jayaram of PSPB in Saturday’s summit clash.
Jayaram halted Aditya Prakash’s dream run, defeating the Karnataka shuttler 21-12, 16-21, 21-14 in the other semifinal. Aditya, who knocked out top seed P Kashyap on Thursday, had registered another upset, beating sixth seed Sagar Jagadish Chopda of Maharashtra 25-23, 21-19 in the morning’s quarterfinal match.
Second seed Trupti Murgunde will meet eighth seed P C Thulasi in the women’s final. Trupti edged out PSPB’s Aditi Mutatkar 21-17, 23-21 while Thulasi posted a 17-21, 21-17, 21-18 win over fifth seed Gayatri Vartak of PSPB in the semifinals.
Barring his aggressive play at the start of the match, Bhat was always struggling to come to terms with the agility of Sai Dutt. In the first game, the Bangalorean managed to stay in the hunt till 8-9. However, a series of unforced errors from Bhat saw his opponent moving ahead by five points to 14-9. A few points later, Bhat misjudged a Sai Dutt return giving the third seed game point. The 20-year-old Sai Dutt wrapped up the game when Bhat hit a smash out.
Athleticism
In the second game, a tired looking Bhat could not match the athleticism of the Hyderabadi, who from 3-3 gained eight points on the trot to take a healthy 11-3 advantage. Standing out were two superb forehand returns off powerful smashes from Bhat that left the experienced national champion stranded. From then on Sai Dutt cruised to victory.
Earlier, women’s top seed Sayali Gokhale of Air India bit the dust in the quarterfinals, going down 21-14, 17-21, 24-22 to Thulasi in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, a bout of fever and back pain forced V Diju to pull out of his doubles and mixed doubles semifinal matches on Friday.
Results (prefix number denote seedings):
Men (Semifinals): 3-RMV Guru Sai Dutt (AP) bt 2-Aravind Bhat (PSPB) 21-16, 21-8; 4-Ajay Jayaram M (PSPB) bt Aditya Prakash (Kar) 21-12, 16-21, 21-14.
Quarterfinals: Aditya Prakash (Kar) bt 6-Sagar Jagadish Chopda (Mah) 25-23, 21-19; 2-Aravind Bhat (PSPB) bt 8-Vinay Kumar Reddy P (Rly) 21-10, 21-11; 4-Ajay Jayaram M (PSPB) bt 7-Srujan Nandaluri (AP) 21-18, 21-13; 3-Sai Dutt (AP) bt Sourabh Verma (MP) 17-21, 21-18, 21-19.
Doubles (semifinals): 1-Arun Vishnu/ Tarun Kona (Ker/AP) bt 3-Akshay Dewalkar/ Jishnu Sanyal (AI) 21-19, 15-21, 21-9; Pranav Chopra/ Sai Praneeth B (AI/AP) w/o 2-Diju V/ Sanave Thomas (PSPB/Ker).
Women (semifinals): 8-PC Thulasi (Ker) bt 5-Gayatri Vartak (PSPB) 17-21, 21-17, 21-18; 2-Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt Aditi Mutatkar (PSPB) 21-17, 23-21.
Quarterfinals: 8-Thulasi (Ker) bt 1-Sayali Gokhale (AI) 21-14, 17-21, 24-22; 5-Gayatri Vartak (PSPB) bt 4-Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) 22-20, 21-19; Aditi Mutatkar (PSPB) bt 3-Mudra Dhainje (AI) 21-13, 22-20; 2-Trupti Murgunde (PSPB) bt Saili Rane (AI) 21-18, 21-13.
Doubles (semifinals): N Sikki Reddy/ Thulasi (AP/KER) bt Arundhati Pantawane/ Sindhu P V (Mah/AP) 21-19, 21-10;3-Anjali Kalita/ Jyotshna P (Rly/AI) bt 2-Nitya Sosale/ Pradnya Gadre (Kar/Mah) 16-21, 21-16, 21-18. Mixed doubles (semifinals): Pranav Chopra/ Prajakta Sawant (AI) bt 2-Tanveer Gill/ Mohita Sahadev (Dli) 21-5, 21-8; 1-Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan (Ker) w/o 4-Diju/ Thulasi (PSPB/Ker).
