Gopi, Sachin set up title clash

kanpur: world number 10 and top seed p gopi chand won the semi-final match, but it was his rival arvind bhatt who won the hearts. at the hari chand memorial major ranking badminton tournament on friday, gopichand escaped an upset bid by the skin of his teeth, saving the match point four times in his 7-3, 7-0, 7-8, 3-7, 8-7 triumph over third seed bhatt.gopichand will take on sachin ratti in the final on saturday for the top prize of rs 40,000. this will be a grudge final for gopi as ratti was the one who handed the former all-england champion his first defeat on home soil in six years at udaipur last november. ratti, in the second semi-final, quelled the challenge of siddharth jain of pscb 7-3, 8-7, 6-8, 7-4. the women’s semi-finals saw both top seeds bowing out. unseeded br meenakshi, with her compact game, outclassed top seed pvv lakshmi 7-1, 7-1, 7-3 in only 22 minutes. in the other semi-final, neelima chaudhary needed 40 minutes to take the measures of second seed trupti murugunde, winning 7-2, 7-5, 4-7 7-1. “i never felt at any stage of the match that i could lose to bhatt. i feel i was a bit too relaxed in the third game, which allowed him to storm back into the match,� said gopichand. results: men’s singles (semi-finals): p gopichand (pscb) bt arvind bhatt (karna) 7-3 7-0 7-8 3-7 8-7, sachin ratti (rlys) bt siddhart jain (ongc) 7-3 8-7 6-8 7-4. women’s singles (semi-finals): br meenakshi (pscb) bt pvv lakshmi (pscb) 7-1 7-1 7-3, neelima chaudhary (ap) bt trupti murugunde (air india) 7-2 7-5 4-7 7-1. men’s doubles (semis): jaseel p ismail/jaison xavier bt marcos bristow/rupesh kumar 4-7 7-2 7-5 2-7 7-1, sanave thomas/v diju bt vijay deep singh/utsav mishra 7-4, 8-6, 7-1. women’s doubles: pvv lakshmi/ch deepti bt oli deka/br meenakshi 7-5 7-1 7-1; manjusha kanwar/archana deodhar bt gutta jwala/shruti kurien 8-6, 3-7, 7-1, 7-1. mixed doubles (semi-finals): neelima chaudhary/chetan anand bt archana deodhar/ajai kanwar 7-3 7-2 7-2, br meenakshi/marcos bristow bt majusha kanwar/ jaseel p ismail 2-7 7-3 0-7 7-1 7-3. final: marcos bristow/br meenakshi bt chetan anand/neelima chaudhary 7-1, 7-8, 8-6, 7-5.