Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma is one step away from making his third seccessive final as he entered the men's singles semifinals of the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix following a hard-fought win over Japan's Kento Horiuchi here today.
Sourabh, who reached the finals at two international challengers -- Belgian and Poland Open, defeated Kento 7-11 11-1 11-3 11-7 in a 31-minute match to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei's Hsu Jen Hao at the USD 55,000 event.
2011 National Champion Sourabh has a 3-0 record against Hao and he will hope to come up on top tomorrow at the Hsing Chuang Gymansium here.
Kento had opened up a 3-0 lead early on and though Sourabh managed to draw parity at 4-4, the Japanese broke off at 7-7 to grab the opening game.
A jolted Sourabh dished out a completely dominating game in the next as he didn't give any chance to Kento to fight back and roared into the contest.
In the third game, Sourabh once again lead from start to finsin to lead 2-1 in the five-game rubber, which is being tested by the BWF in the tournament.
In the fourth game, Kento managed to eke out a 4-0 lead but Sourabh soon reeled off six points to turn the tables leading 7-4. The Indian then sealed the issue without much issue.
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