Sameer Verma grabs Swiss Open 2018

World No. 46 Sameer Verma just outplayed former world no. 2 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and lifted the men’s singles title at the $150,000 Swiss Open Super 300 tournament on Sunday.

With this win, Sameer joined the compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy, who had won the title in 2015 and 2016.

The 23-year-old, who made the comeback this season after missing in action for nearly eight months due to the injury, ousted his opponent with his powerful smashes and great anticipation with 21-15, 21-13 in the 36-minute contest.

The second seeded Indian was no match to the Dane in the opening game of the finals. Grabbing the early lead of 0-3, Sameer just cruised towards the break with four points advantage of 11-7. Jorgensen narrowed the gap to 10-12 after winning the video referral, but Sameer Verma jumped to 17-10 straight and went down the wire to save the game with 21-15.

After switching the sides, Jorgensen managed to take the game and levelled the score at 5-5. Since then, Sameer was unstoppable and created the huge gap of 8 points to his advantage by 17-9, followed by some powerful smashes to take the title.

Previously in the quarter-finals, Verma defeated another former world no. 2 Kenta Momota of Japan.

Verma, who had clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold last year and reached the finals at 2016 Hong Kong Super Series, added another title to his cabin for the first time since August 2017.