Chinese Taipei Open: Ajay Jayaram progresses to quarter-final after win against Kim Bruun; Sourabh Verma bows out

Taipei City: Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram progressed to the quarter-finals of the Chinese Taipei BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament after ousting Denmark’s Kim Bruun in straight games in the second round, on Thursday.

Jayaram, a former world no 13 Indian, registered a 21-10 22-20 win over Kim in a 37-minute battle.

The 30-year-old, who had reached the finals of Korea Open in 2015, will face Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia next.

Former national champion Sourabh Verma, who had won the $75,000 Russian Open in July and had qualified for the Indian team at 18th Asian Games after recovering from injury, lost to Japan’s Riichi Takeshita 21-19, 21-23, 16-21 to bow out of the tournament.

Jayaram dished out a clinical effort as he led 6-0 at one point. However, Kim reduced the deficit to 8-9 before the Indian once again stamped his authority to jump to 14-8 and then 20-9 to secure the opening game.

The second game, however, turned out to be a close affair as Kim erased a 3-6 deficit and turned the tables, reaching 11-9 at the break.

The Danish shuttler continued to move ahead and grabbed a healthy 16-12 advantage at one stage. But the experienced Jayaram managed to draw parity at 19-19 and sealed the contest eventually.