Ajay Jayaram enters Dutch Open final

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram inched closer to his third international title after battling past compatriot Anand Pawar in the semi-finals of the Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix Gold in Almere on Saturday.

The 23-year-old Jayaram, who clinched the Czech Open title early this month, overcame 14th seed Pawar 21-18, 21-18 in a 40-minute battle to set up a summit clash with the winner of the other semi-final between sixth seed local player Eric Pang and fifth Japanese Sho Sasaki on Sunday.

Jayaram and Pawar were locked in a gruelling battle till 16-all after which the former broke off and pocketed four straight point to move to 20-16.

Pawar saved two game points but it was not enough as Jayaram closed the issue in his name.

In the second game, the Tamil Nadu shuttler opened up a 11-5 lead and maintained the distance as Pawar's game crumbled.

Jayaram beat Russian Ivan Sozonov 21-10, 21-8, while Anand Pawar battled past 12th seed Scott Evans of Ireland 22-20, 14-21, 21-18 in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Defending champion Chetan Anand also crashed out of the tournament after losing his quarterfinal match on Friday against fifth Japanese Sho Sasaki 21-19, 21-12 in the men's singles.