Sourabh Verma cements place in Vietnam Open final

India shuttler Sourabh Verma booked his place in the men's singles final of the ongoing Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 tournament  after registering a straight-games victory over Japan's Minoru Koga on Saturday.

The second-seeded Indian defeated Koga 22-20, 21-15 in the semi-final clash which lasted for 51 minutes.

Sourabh, who hasn't lost a game en route to the finals of the ongoing competition, was given a stiff fight by his Japanese opponent throughout the course of the match. However, the World No. 38 came up with a gritty performance in both the games and emerged victorious.

After getting a bye in the first round, Verma -- who is the lone Indian in the competition -- outlasted Japan's Kodai Naraoka 22-20, 22-20 in a tight second-round clash. Naraoka's compatriot, Yu Igarashi then posed a stern test to Verma in which the Indian came out with flying colours. A gruelling 25-23, 24-22 victory sealed the deal for Verma and put him in the quarter-finals.

And the last-eight match against home favourite Tien Minh Nguyen turned out to be the easiest for him as he cruised to a 21-13, 21-18 victory on Friday.

He will now face Sun Fei Xiang of China -- who went past Lin Yu Hsien 21-17, 21-16 - in the final on Sunday.