Aparna, Gopi avert defeats

8220;Nothing,8221; said Aparna when asked what her thoughts were at 0-8 down in the second game. Gopi8217;s reaction was the same.

There were those who had felt sorry for Meenakshi as the little curly-haired girl trudged up to the court for the match. Aparna8217;s win seemed a formality after the ease with which she has dominated women8217;s singles on the circuit.

It therefore came as a shock when she surged game point 8212; six ahead. She had matched Aparna stroke for stroke, troubling the champion with angled drops and aggresive forehand play. She took the first game on a crosscourt forehand, and thecrowd began to warm to the idea that a major upset was on.

In the second game, she outdid herself, reaching for every drop, and returning every smash, and countering Aparna8217;s attack to go ahead 8-0.

And then, back came the champion.

A Meenakshi forehand which went long was the break Aparna was hoping for. She began to hit deep into her opponent8217;s backhand court, forcing the other to play defensively, and closed in with sharp winners. Eight-all, then nine-eight, and then game point. Second game to Aparna.

But Meenakshi didn8217;t let that faze her. She fought back in the third, covering the court well and forcing errors from Aparna. At 9-7 up, she was one point away from serving for the match.

But Aparna hung on. Two strong shots and an unforced error from her rival later, she had the game and match in her pocket.

Gopi Chand8217;s status as defending champion was under threat from Kanetkar. Gopi had to dig deep to overcome his first game loss.

Down 2-9 in the second game, he turned his fortunes aroundremarkably, using his deceptive slices and delicate netplay. While allowing Kanetkar to deliver his high jump smashes, Gopi relied on his deep returns, frustrating the challenger into committing errors and getting the game 15-14.

The third game was almost a no-contest: the tired Kanetkar, having given everything he had, lost the game at five.

RESULTS

Men8217;s singles quarter-finals: Gopi Chand bt Arvind Bhat 15-4, 15-3; Nikhil Kanetkar bt Kiran Kumar 15-8, 11-15, 15-4; Siddharth Jain bt Chetan Anand 15-7, 15-5; Sachin Ratti bt Abhishek Bakshi 15-4, 10-15, 15-4.

Semifinals: Gopichand bt Nikhil Kanetkar 14-17, 15-14, 15-5; Sachin Ratti bt Siddharth Jain 7-15, 15-13, 15-7.

Men8217;s doubles quarter-finals: Jaseel P Ismail/V Lobo bt Davinder Dhillon/Praveen Gehlawat 15-4, 15-4; Amrish Shinde/Mayur Ghatnekar bt Joy Antony/KA Anish 12-15, 15-3, 15-10; Vinod Kumar/Vijaydeep Singh bt Jaison Xavier/Deepak Amarnath 15-8, 9-15, 15-10; George Thomas/Markose Bristow bt Gopichand/Nagendra9-15, 15-8, 15-2.

Semi-finals: Jaseel P Ismail/Vincent Lobo bt Amrish Shinde/Mayur Ghatnekar 15-3, 17-14.

Women8217;s singles quarter-finals: Manjusha Kanwar bt Sampada Shetye 11-7, 11-8; G Jwala bt Parul Priyadarshini 11-7, 11-6; Aparna Popat bt CH Deepti 11-5, 11-2; BR Meenakshi bt Trupti Murgunde 11-1, 9-11, 11-4.

Semi-finals: Aparna Popat bt Meenakshi BR 6-11, 11-8, 11-9; Manjusha Kanwar bt Jwala G 11-2, 11-4.

Women8217;s doubles: Manjusha Kanwar/Archana Deodhar bt Parul Priyadarshini/Nupura Bhide 15-13, 15-6; G Jwala/Shruti Kurien bt Ketaki Thakkar/Meenakshi BR 17-14, 15-4; PVV Lakshmi/Sharada Reddy bt Sampada Shetye/Madhavi Kashikar 15-3, 15-4; Aparna Popat/Manjula bt Oli Deka/Deepti 15-10, 15-5.

Mixed Doubles: Jaseel Ismail/Manjusha Kanwar bt Sushant Nidodi/Madhavi Kashikar 15-1, 15-5.