Syed Modi International: Saina Nehwal, Sameer Verma enter final

LUCKNOW: Former three-time winner Saina Nehwal and reigning champion Sameer Verma have been a step away from clinching the women's and men's singles titles respectively, reaching the finals of the Syed Modi International World Tour Super 300 here on Saturday.

Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Gold Coast bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also advanced to the summit conflict in men's doubles and ladies's doubles respectively.

Third seed Sameer, who gained titles at Swiss and Hyderabad this 12 months, noticed off Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-13, 17-21, 21-Eight in a 57-minute men's singles semi-finals.

The international quantity 16 Indian, who must win the name to qualify for the year-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, will face sixth seeded Chinese Lu Guangzu within the summit conflict. If he wins the name, Sameer will displace Japan's Kenta Nishimoto at No.Eight within the Race to Guangzhou Rankings.

Saina, seeded 2d, also prevailed over any other Indonesian Ruselli Hartawan 12-21, 21-7, 21-6 to arrange a meeting with China's Han Yue, who defeated compatriot Li Xuerui 21-15, 19-21, 21-Nine in any other semi-final.

Men's pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag shocked London Olympics silver medallists Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 22-20, 25-23 to secure their maiden place in a Super 300 last. It used to be their first win over the celebrated Danish pair in 5 makes an attempt.

The Indian duo, who had gained a Super 100 name at Hyderabad, will face 2d seeded Indonesian aggregate of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto within the men's doubles finals.

Ashwini and Sikki also made it to their 2d successive finals here with a 21-18, 21-16 win over Russian aggregate of Ekaterina Bolotova and Alina Davletova in girls's doubles.

Ashwini, then again, couldn't growth to the finals of the combined doubles tournament after she and her spouse Satwiksairaj Rankireddy went down narrowly 12-21, 21-18, 19-21 to the Chinese pair of Ou Xuanyi and Feng Xueying within the semi-finals early within the day.

World No. Nine Saina found the going tricky to start with and conceded a Five-2 lead. She attempted to claw back however Ruselli managed to hold a 11-7 merit at the first smash after which pocketed the outlet recreation, much to the discontentment of the group.

Jolted by means of the reversal, Saina accrued her wits and dished out a dominating recreation after an preliminary 4-4 battle along with her Indonesian opponent. The Indian reeled off 5 points to achieve Nine-4 after which quickly jumped to 16-6 prior to roaring back into the competition with any other 5 directly points.

The decider used to be no other with Saina continuing her domination, shifting to Eight-2 at one degree prior to accumulating the following 8 points to take the fit away from her opponent. She sealed the competition with ease after all to make it to her fourth last here.

In the lads's singles, Sameer led Three-0 and 7-4 prior to Chico managed to hold a slender 11-10 merit at the interval. The Indian, then again, quickly blasted off 10 directly points at 10-12 to leap to 20-12 after which sealed the outlet recreation in his favour.

He used to be with ease positioned at 7-1 in the second one recreation when Chico scripted a stirring recovery to make it 12-11 at one degree. Sameer earned a slender 17-16 lead but the Indonesian managed to dance back with 5 points.

In the decider, Sameer seemed to be in a zone of his personal as he jumped to a 11-Three lead at the breather after which maintained his stranglehold to with ease secure his place within the last.