Lucknow: Former champions Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma stormed into the finals of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2018 on Saturday.
From a game down, Nehwal, the winner of the tournament's 2009, 2014 and 2015 editions, revived her drive to defeat Ruselli Hartawan of Indonesia 12-21, 21-7, 21-6 to book her place in the summit clash.
In men's singles event, defending champion Sameer Verma had to work hard to notch up a 21-13, 17-21, 21-8 win over his Indonesian counterpart Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Nehwal will take on Han Yue of China, while Verma will next meet Lu Guangzu of China on November 25.
In the mixed doubles event, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were denied by the woodworks of their Chinese counterparts Ou Xuanyi and Feng Xueying as they conceded a 12-21, 21-18, 19-21 defeat in the game.
However, Ashwini, along with Sikki Reddy, hardly broke a sweat in defeating the Russian duo of Ekaterina Bolotova and Alina Davletova in the women's doubles event.
Meanwhile, Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty emerged victorious over Denmark's Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in a tight game by 22-20, 25-23 in the men's doubles event.
Ashwini and Sikki will take on the Malaysian pair of Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean, while Satwiksairaj and Chirag are slated to face Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia on November 25.
