India’s P. Kashyap produced another gutsy performance at the Canada Open Super 100 here to enter the semifinals. He defeated France’s Lucas Claerbout 12-21, 23-21, 24-22 in a close quarterfinal contest lasting an hour and 16 minutes.
Kashyap, the sixth seed, will now face Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei — the fourth seed — for a place in the final.
Compatriot Sourabh Verma, however, bowed out of the tourney, going down 21-15, 21-11 to Li Shi Feng of China in contest lasting 38 minutes.
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Kashyap found the going tough initially as Lucas opened up a 5-2 lead in the opening game. Lucas stayed ahead in the game from this point. Kashyap reduced the deficit to one point at 9-10, but Lucas kept moving ahead to grab the opening game comfortably.
Nip and tuck
Kashyap held his nerves to bounce back and take the match to the decider despite having squandered three game points. In the final game, Lucas gained a 6-1 lead and kept his nose ahead till he had gathered 18 points; from there, Kashyap clawed back, grabbing two match points.
Lucas saved both the match points to make it 20-20. Kashyap moved ahead, but Lucas levelled the scores once again before earning a match point himself at 22-21. From there, Kashyap grabbed three points consecutively to close the contest.
The 32-year-old Kashyap will fancy his chances of reaching the final as he has beaten Wang twice in the past, the latest being at the India Open in March, 2019.
The last time Kashyap had qualified for the final of a tourney was at the Austrian International Challenger last year.
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