Ajay Jayaram sails into semi-finals of US Open badminton
Ajay Jayaram defeated Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee 21-18, 21-12 to reach the semis of the US Open badminton tournament.
Comeback man Ajay Jayaram stormed into the semifinals of the USD 150,000 US Open with a straight game win over Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee in the BWF World Tour Super 300 badminton tournament, on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Indian took half an hour to dispatch Hee 21-18 21-12 in a men’s singles contest at the Fullerton Titan Gym.
Jayaram, who was stretched in the first two rounds by Yun Kyu Lee and Ygor Coelho, will next face France’s Mark Caljouw.
Jayaram jumped to a 10-4 advantage in the opening round but Hee narrowed down the deficit to 9-10. However, the Indian again moved ahead slowly to 17-12 before comfortably grabbing the game.
The second game seemed like an even contest where the duo fought hard for each point. Jayaram had a slender 5-3 lead but Hee shifted the momentum in his favour for sometime before the Indian reeled off five straight points to move to 13-8.
Jayaram didn’t let the advantage slip from there on and sealed the contest.
It was a hamstring injury suffered during the Senior Nationals Championship last year that saw him slip from world no 13 in September to current ranking of 134.
Jayaram had retired after just two points against Tommy Sugiarto in the India Open early in the year. He eventually recovered and played at the China Masters, New Zealand Open and Australia Open.