Sameer Verma missed a chance to win his maiden Superseries after losing 14-21, 21-10, 11-21 in the final against NG Ka Long Angus at the Hong Kong Open on Sunday. The match lasted 50 minutes.
Verma is one of only three male players to reach a Superseries final. Prakash Padukone remains the only Indian to win the Hong Open, having won the inaugural edition in 1982. (The Hong Kong Open became a Superseries in 2007).
It was a historic win for Angus as he became the first man from Hong Kong to win the men's singles title at the Hong Kong Open.
On Saturday, Sameer had shocked third-seeded Jan O Jorgensen to enter the final.
Earlier in the day, PV Sindhu also suffered a loss in the final, losing to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in straight sets.
The 22 year-old Verma was appearing in his first Superseries final and looked to by riddled by nerves as Angus led 8-2 in the early exchanges.
Verma had a much better opening against third seeded Jan O Jorgensen in the semifinal. He tried to fight back but Angus led 11-5 at the changeover.
Verma, playing in his first final of the year, showed good retrieval skills but Angus extended the lead to 13-8 when Verma failed to return a powerful smash.
Angus made good use of the down-the-line smash to take the score to 17-12. He closed out the game on the first opportunity, winning it in 15 minutes.
Verma gathered himself in the second game and showed good composure and tactical awareness to lead 7-2. Despite being ranked 29 places below Angus, Verma led 11-5 at the changeover in the second game after a perfectly placed smash down the line.
A couple of errors from Verma helped Angus narrow the lead down to 7-14. But Angus started to get impatient as Verma showed good poise and increased the lead to 18-8.
There was a definitive shift in momentum as Verma closed out the second game in 16 minutes. Cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, Angus took a 3-0 lead in the third game and extended it to 5-3 after a sapping 32-shot rally.
Verma gave away a couple of cheap points as Angus lead 11-4 at the changeover. While Verma's retrieval skills were commendable, he struggled to close points out in the third game as Angus stretched the lead to 13-6.
Verma's inexperience showed in the third game as he read the play well but failed to hold his nerve in the crunch moments as Angus won the third game in 19 minutes.
Angus had dropped only one game on his way to the final and has also qualified for the World Superseries finals in Dubai in December.
Verma had won both his previous matches against Angus. World number 14 Angus was also appearing in his first Superseries final.