NEW DELHI, April 29 (PTI): It was curtains for India in the Indian Open Super Series after young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and RMV Gurusai Datt suffered straight-game defeats in the quarterfinals of the men�s singles at the Siri Fort Complex here today.
Giant killer Sourabh, who had beaten Athen Olympics bronze medallist Sony Kuncoro of Indonesia and seventh seed Kenichi Tago of Japan on his way to the quarterfinals, suffered a 7-21, 8-21 defeat against World number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
While, Datt went down fighting to world number 20 Hu Yun of Hong Kong 10-21, 16-21 in a 35-minute match. Datt had beaten fourth seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and Yuhan Tan of Belgium in the first two rounds here.
It was always going to be a David versus Goliath battle and hopes started to fade the moment Sourabh and Lee took the court as the top seed Malaysian toyed with the junior player, playing the first Super Series of his career.
Sourabh�s challenge lasted for the initial six points as after that Lee just toyed with his opponent and raced away with the first game. The Beijing Olympics silver medallist was more ruthless in the second as he tired out Sourabh by making him run all across the court, playing an array of strokes to pocket the game comfortably.
Other Indian in fray, Datt also found the going tough against world number 20 Hu and succumbed to a lot of unforced errors to crash out of the event.
Hu will take on Lee in the semifinals tomorrow.
After losing the first game rather quickly, Datt had conjured up hopes of another upset when he led 11-5 but Hu�s deft net play and smashes left the Indian gasping as the Hong Kong player first drew parity at 14-14 before finishing the game, conceding just two more points.
Among others, second seed Indonesian Taufik Hidayat was sent packing by sixth seed Korean Sung Hwan Park 17-21, 17-21 in 46 minutes to set up a clash with Peter Hoeg Gade in the semifinals tomorrow.
