Sameer said: "I had prepared for his game but he played better today.
Sameer said: "I had prepared for his game but he played better today. He is a tricky player with quality strokes. I think I am confident enough to go for my strokes. I will look to continue the momentum tomorrow."
The older of the Verma brothers, Sourabh was engaged in a fierce battle with another Hong Kong shuttler when Sameer took the court and while he completed his victory with consummate ease, Sourabh blew a 19-16 lead in the decider, despite making a roaring comeback in the second game where he had led from start to finish.
In the end, the scoreline read 19-21 21-14 20-22 in favour of sixth seed Ng Ka Long Angus as Sourabh left crestfallen.
While answering about the difference between their games, Sameer made an observation, saying: "He has a calm head and has a good rally game while I am more attacking, perhaps, if I can have his patience and he can have my aggression, we both will do well."
Before the verma brothers could finish their engagements, another Indian was facing an exceptionally unsual day where nothing seemed to go his way.
Former champion Kidambi Srikanth had such an off day that he completely misjudged the length of the shuttle and struggled with his strokes and got buried in a heap of unforced errors. After 25 minutes, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Viktor Axelsen ended his agony with a 21-7 21-12 win.
"Nothing went my way today. I was misjudging the shuttle completely. He was playing too well and I just couldn't t compete," Srikanth said.
The Indian got some words of comfort from the strapping Dane.
"I have been there when you enter the court and find nothing is right. But I know how good a player, Srikanth is," said Axelsen, who had lost the finals to the Indian at 2015 edition here.
Among others, B Sai Praneeth failed to match the seventh seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei and was outclassed 14-21 16-21 in 36 minutes.
Shruti Mundada and Anoushka Parikh were no match for the third seeded Japanese pair of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao, while Syed Modi champions Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, seeded seventh, lost 18-21 19-21 to Russian duo of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova.
Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy suffered a 15-21 10-21 loss to fourth seeded Thai pair of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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