Sourabh reach quarters of Chinese Taipei Grand Prix

Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma advanced to the quarterfinals of the USD 55,000 Chinese Taipei Grand Prix after defeating Japan's Ryotaro Maruo in the men's singles here on Thursday.

The 2011 National Champion Sourabh, who reached the finals of Belgian Open and Polish Open challenger, beat Maruo 11-6,11-8, 11-6 in a 31-minute clash to set up a clash with Japan's Kento Horiuchi next. Sourabh opened up a 4-0 lead in the opening game but Maruo came back to draw level before the Indian slowly started to distance himself, reaching 8-6. He then sealed the opening game with three straight points.

In the second game, Sourabh dished out another dominating performance, racing to 7-0 at one stage and though the Japanese did put up a fight, the Indian soon pocketed it without much ado.

In the decider, it was a much closer battle as both the shuttlers moved neck-and-neck till 4-4. Sourabh opened up a 7-4 lead but Maruo closed it down to 6-7 before the Indian reeled off four points to shut the door on the Japanese.