Chetan Anand perhaps would never have imagined that he will have such an easy passage into the final. His rival Andrew Smith was a total wreck in the semifinal against the Indian. The end result was a comfortable 21-6, 21-9 win in the men's singles semifinal of the Indian Open Gold Grand Prix badminton here on Saturday.
In the final, Chetan will meet Thailand's fifth seed Boonsak Ponsana, who scored a 19-21, 21-14, 21-15 win over Japan's Sho Sasaki in a 61-minute semifinal match.
The surprising aspect of Chetan's semifinal match was that Smith could never come up with any sort of resistance. If the Englishman had displayed even a bit of form like he did in the semifinal against Anand Pawar, Chetan would have had to work harder.
The first game was real easy for Chetan, the World No 71. It was a wonder how Smith, ranked No 35 in the world, could cave in so easily. He made so many errors and looked like a total amateur. The main source of points for Chetan was Smith repeatedly sending the shuttle into the net.
There just seemed to be no power in Smith’s racquet. At other times, he hit wildly beyond the lines. Smith shouted and muttered to himself in frustration. But then, that is all he could do. He had just lost the match mentally. That was evident when Chetan won 11 straight points from 3-1 to 14-1.
Same story
The second game was hardly different. It was the same story all over again. After being at the receiving end in the first game, it seemed to have affected Smith so much mentally that he could never recover from the position he was in. No issues for Chetan then as he wrapped up the issue in just 25 minutes.
Chetan's entry into the final is the biggest news for Indian men after Pullela Gopichand's win in the All-England Championship in 2001. Gopichand had lost to Indonesia's Heryanto Arbi in the final of the previous India Open in 1997.
"I expected a tough match but it was not so. He made so many errors," Chetan said after the match. "All I did was to keep the shuttle in play. One day I will play better and one day my opponent may play better. It was just one of those days when all things went right," said Chetan, who has a 1-1 record against Ponsana.
"I just want to relax and take things easy for the final. By God's grace I should be able to pull it off."
In the first semifinal, it was Sasaki's attacking style of play in the first game against World No 12 Ponsana that saw him being very competitive. The game ran very close but Sasaki managed to get the first one.
Ponsana, in the second game, slowed the pace drastically. More importantly, the Thai did not let his rival the chance to smash and that proved to be crucial. In addition, Ponsana sent returns well away from Sasaki, who had to really stretch to return, being a little short.
That was the general trend in the second and third games as Ponsana wrapped up the match.
The women's singles final will be contested by Hong Kong's Zhou Mi (sixth seed) and China's Lu Lan (second seed).
In the semifinals, Lu Lan defeated compatriot Zhu Lin (third seed) 17-21, 21-7, 21-10, while Zhou Mi scored a 18-21, 21-12, 21-12 win over Japan's Eriko Hirose (eighth seed).
RESULTS
Men's singles: Semifinals: Boonsak Ponsana (Thai) bt Sho Sasaki (Jpn) 19-21, 21-14, 21-15; Chetan Anand (Ind) bt Andrew Smith (Eng) 21-6, 21-9. Doubles: Semifinals: Choon Eng Chew/ Chong Ming Chan (Mas) bt Candra Wijaya (Ina)/ Tony Gunawan (USA) 21-18, 9-21, 21-19; Zhengdong Guo/ Zhangbo Xie (Chn) bt Jae Sung Jung/ Yong Dae (Kor) 19-21, 21-9, 21-18. Quarterfinals: Jae Sung Jung/ Yong Dac (Kor) bt Albertus Susanto Njoto/ Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama (HK) 21-9, 21-15; Zhengdong Guo/ Zhongbo Xie (Chn) bt Rian Sukmawan/ Yonatan Suryatama (Ina) 21-14, 21-16; Choon Eng Chew/ Chong Ming Chan (Mas) bt Tadashi Ohtsuka/ Keita Masuda (Jpn) 21-17, 21-17; Candra Wijaya (Ina)/ Tony Gunawan (USA) bt Hendra Wijaya/ Uki Kasah Yoga (Sing) 21-8, 21-9.
Women's singles: Semifinals: Lu Lan (Chn) bt Zhu Lin (Chn) 17-21, 21-7, 21-10; Zhou Mi (HK) bt Eriko Hirose (Jpn) 18-21, 21-12, 21-12. Doubles: Semifinals: Yu Chin Chieh/ Wen Hsing Cheng (Tpe) bt Shinta Mulia Sari/ Lei Yao (Sing) 21-13, 21-17; Miyuki Maeda/ Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Kamila Augustyn/ Nadieza Kostiuzyk (Pol) 21-18, 21-17.
Quarterfinals: Yu Chin Chien/ Wen Hsing Cheng (Tpe) bt Khe Wei Woon/ Lui Ying Goh (Mas) 21-13, 21-18; Shinta Mulia Sari/ Lei Yao (Sing) bt Endang Nursugianti/ Rani Mundiasti (Ina) 21-13, 21-14; Kamila Augustyn/ Nadieza Kostiuczyk (Pol) bt Yanmei Jiang/ Yujia Li (Sing) 13-21, 21-19, 21-13; Miyuki Maeda/ Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Nitya Krishnida Maheswari/ Lita Nurlita (Ina) 21-17, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Semifinals: Hanbin He/ Yang Yu (Chn) bt Robert Mateusiak/ Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (Pol) 21-14, 21-19; Kristof Hopp/ Brigit Overzier (Ger) bt Chieh Min Fang/ Wen Hsing Cheng (Tpe) 21-19, 22-20.
