Top seed Arvind Bhat and unseeded Sachin Ratti set up a title clash on a day of upsets that saw the women's top seed crash out in the 1st Tata Open All India Badminton Tournament in Mumbai on Wednesday.
India number three Arvind Bhat of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board lived up to his billing with a come-from-behind 7-21, 21-19, 21-7 semi final victory over sixth seed Ajay Jayaram of Maharashtra.
But second seed Rajeev Ouseph bit the dust when he was beaten by Railways shuttler Ratti who snatched a thrilling 16-21, 21-18, 21-17 win in the other men's semi-finals tie.
Third seed Neha Pandit of Maharashtra set up the women's final against unseed BR Meenakshi of PSPB following contrasting semi final wins.
Neha ended the winning streak of Sayali Gokhale of Air India, who shocked top seed Gayatri Vartak of Maharashtra in the quarter finals, by surging to a 19-21, 21-18, 21-16 win.
Meenakshi utilised her vast experience to upset fourth seeded Dhanya Nair of Railways 21-12, 21-11.
In the Ratti-Ouseph clash, England number one Ouseph took the opening game before allowing Ratti to claw his way back into the tie and force the decider.
Ratti squandered a handy 14-8 lead in the third and final game as Ouseph caught up at 16-16 with the former committing unlikely errors.
Ratti managed to take a vital 18-16 lead thereafter and held on dearly to make a surprise entry into the final.
