Vietnam Open: Ajay Jayaram storms into final after straight games victory over Japan's Yu Igarashi

Ho CHi Minh City: India’s Ajay Jayaram stood a step away from his first title of the season as he made it to the finals of the Vietnam Open after defeating Japan’s Yu Igarashi in straight games on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_3946165” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Ajay Jayaram. Image Courtesy Twitter: @ajay_289[/caption] The 30-year-old Indian, who is making a comeback after recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered last year, saw off seventh seed Igarashi 21-14 21-19 in a 34-minute match. Jayaram, who had reached the finals at White Nights last month, will face Indonesia’s World No 79 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the finals of the $75,000 BWF Tour Super 100 tournament. Shesar, who had won four consecutive Indonesia International tournament, outwitted India’s Mithun Manjunath 21-17 19-21 21-14 in a match that lasted 59 minutes here. This is the third time in as many weeks that an Indian will be fighting for a title in a badminton event. Last Sunday, Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu had settled for a silver medal after losing to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the summit clash at Nanjing, China. A week before that, India’s Sourabh Verma had won the men’s singles title at Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament. Jayaram, a former World No 13, was clinical in the opening game as he kept distancing himself from his rival after opening up a slender 3-1 lead at the start. He held a 11-8 advantage at the interval. After the break, Jayaram jumped to a 15-8 lead by reeling off five straight points. Igarashi tried to make a comeback but the Indian continued to march ahead to pocket the first game. In the second game, Igarashi opened up a 4-1 lead initially but Jayaram clawed his way back with three points. The duo went neck and neck after that before Jayaram held a 11-10 advantage at the breather. After the break, Jayaram collected five points on the trot to jump to a 16-11 lead. The Japanese again recovered to 18-19 but the Indian shut the door on his opponent.