Sourabh Verma defeated Anders Antonsen in straight sets to reach the finals of Bittburger Grand Prix Gold event on Saturday. It was a dominating performance by Sourabh who outplayed his opponent in all departments.
In the first game, Anders began on a positive note taking an initial lead. Sourabh Verma did an excellent job to come back into the match and reduced the gap to 4-6. Verma took the lead for the first time in this game at 7-6 but Anderson fought back and had an 11-10 lead at mid game. After the interval the Indian player, showed his class and played an aggressive game to race away with the first set 21-15.
In the second game, Sourabh Verma continued his dominance taking a 3-2 lead. Anders played an attacking game and took 3 points in succession to take a 5-3 lead in his favor. Sourabh Verma soon made a comeback take 3 points in succession for a 6-5 lead. The Indian’s smashes proved too much for the Denmark player. At the mid-game, Sourbah Verma led 11-9. After the break, Antonsen played well and remained in close distance with Verma as he reduced the gap to only 1 point at 13-14 in favor of Verma. Antonsen took the lead for a short while but Verma showed his experience and won the second set 21-18 progressing into finals.
Sourabh Verma defeated 3 higher ranked players and will face the Chinese Shi in the finals.
