Thailand Open: Satwik-Ashwini in mixed doubles semis, Sameer's journey ends in agony
Hindustan TimesIndia's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa entered the mixed doubles semifinal with a stunning win, but Sameer Verma's impressive run at the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 tournament came to an end after a gruelling battle in Bangkok on Friday. Ashwini and Satwik The unseeded pair of Satwik and Ashwini stunned fifth seeds and world no 6 Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia 18-21 24-22 22-20 after toiling hard for one hour and 15 minutes in a nail-bitting quarterfinal duel. However, Sameer's giant-killing run came to an end after he squandered a match point to go down 13-21 21-19 20-22 to world no 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a men's singles quarterfinal contest. Sameer couldn't engage his rival in long rallies or put any kind of pressure and also struggled with his shots as Antonsen cantered to eight game points and took the opening game when the Indian went wide again.