India’s teen badminton ace Tanvi Sharma unleashed a torrent of varied strokes to defeat World No 24 Huang Yu-Hsun 21-17, 21-11 and make the Super 300 Taipei Open finals at the Arena.
In the second semifinal, Unnati Hooda found Vietnamese Thuy Linh Nguyen’s swift, canny movements too much to negotiate as she went down 21-15, 21-18 in 41 minutes. The Indian World No 28 couldn’t recover from a 13-6 deficit in the opening set, as the 28-year-old opponent, ten years her senior, used all her experience to play steady and retrieve cleanly. In the second, Unnati had a hefty 16-11 lead, but rushed through the points winning only 2 of the next 12.
Nguyen was easily beaten 21-19, 21-9 by Tanvi the last time the Indian made finals at US. She has made three finals since – at Canada, Vietnam and Korea Masters but only has Orleans quarters to show for this season.
Against Huang, a serve into the net after Tanvi comfortably led 17-11 was the only blip phase in an otherwise dominant show against an opponent who couldn’t handle the Indian’s stinging attack.
Tanvi has crosscourt whiplash smashes on both flanks and it was a simple matter of getting the local Taiwanese rooted on the other side. She can manoeuvre opponents with her forecourt drops though it was her deception on pushes to the back line that dealt the most damage.
Error-prone on bad days, Tanvi would do well to not change her game that skirts the lines when she aims pinpoint shuttle deliveries to the corners. On Saturday, she was nailing most of those back court pings. The most exquisite was the a back-of-the-wrist push that she pulled back at the last moment to send it straight and land it just close to the line, which woth full force would’ve gone long. It oozed skill that goes beyond the power-attack.
Coach Park Tae Sang had his quibbles, before shetook a 11-9 lead in the second and corrected ger first set dawdle by taking 10 of the next 12 points.
With Tanvi, the strokes are placed as full-stops, not commas, so the rallies tend to stay short. Huang, 22, just did not possess the breadth of defense to prolong the rallies. Her flank defense was poor and the talented Tanvi’s smashes tend to travel with a zip.
Perhaps Huang’s only chance was in drawing the Indian ranked 34, forward. There is a massive striding caginess in Tanvi’s lunge. A dangerous movement fault that can cause injury if not addressed. She over-estimates the length of her long stride at the net, lands on the out-sole and puts her ankle at risk. At least 4 times in the match, the lunge drew gasps. Her recovery from the lunge for the next return also needs work.
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