Ajay Jayaram suffers semi-final heartache, crashes out of US Open Grand Prix Gold

El Monte, USA: India’s Ajay Jayaram crashed out of the US Open after suffering a straight-game loss to Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in the men’s singles semifinals of the Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament at El Monte on Sunday.

The World number 22 and fourth seed Jayaram could not match the intensity of his rival and lost 10-21 14-21 in 33 minutes at Los Angeles Badminton Club.

The 28-year-old Indian could not step up his game against the Japanese, who led 4-2 at the start and then broke off at 6-6 and never looked back.

From 8-7, Tsuneyama reeled off 10 straight points to create a huge gap, which Jayaram could not bridge.

In the second game, Jayaram put up a better show and opened up a slender 3-1 led early on but the Japanese started to make life difficult for the Indian. The duo fought till 14-14 when Tsuneyama sealed the issue in his favour with seven points straight.