Tanvi Sharma has some exceptional variety from the back court and her aggressive intent has been stunning opponents’ at the Super 300 US Open in Council Bluffs, Iowa this whole week. The 16-year-old shuttler announced an imminent breakthrough season by reaching the finals by beating Ukrainian Polina Burhova 21-14, 21-16 late on Saturday night.
In beating the 21-year-old, Sharma from Hoshiarpur in Punjab and training at the Guwahati National Centre in just over 34 minutes in a show of blistering badminton. Burhova is World No 40, but Sharma, ranked 66, has beaten World Nos 23, 58 and 50 respectively in making the finals.
The arena in mid west America was near-empty and fellow semifinalist Ayush Shetty sat in the coaching chair for Sharma. But she was in such impervious form that the Indian barely needed any guidance as she unfurled her wide variety of strokes in beating the older opponent who was often left staggered and pinned down by Sharma’s raging strokes.
A high serve that she uses to buy some time before she comes charging at the net did the trick till she was faulted on one midway through the second set. She would briefly settle for the short serve, but regain her composure to go back to the tall serve.
But Sharma’s winning game is her variety from the back. She strokes the shuttle nice and high and early and has the capability to open up the court with ease solely because of the options at her disposal.
The punch in her shots carries them cross or down the line with a special fizz and besides the body smashes on Burhova, she has a solid straight zipping hit that travels with speed. Not only is Sharma adept at hitting the lines with precision, she also plays from the wide flanks and conjures angles that scatter opponent defenses. Her drop shots are extremely cerebral, and she uses the deep smashes to the back to set up the curling drop that falls very close to the net.
It’s how she’s beaten world no 23 in Round 1, and how she’s made her first big final. Her frame beliefs the strength she can summon in her shots though Burhova would’ve felt the ping as Sharma went for the body smashes pretty often. But most often there were the follow-ups where she charged the net, didn’t bother with dribbles and killed at will.
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The second set got a little close when Burhova took 5 points straight to level at 16, but Sharma responded by taking 5 of her own thereafter, never letting up on the intensity.
Her game is compared to Sindhu’s for the attack she can unleash, though her net will get tested by the Top Tenners. But she easily and non-chalantly matches the firepower of opponents and is managing to generate far more power than her frame lets on by sheer timing of striking the shuttle.
Winning in straight sets also showed she can dictate the pace and assert her stomping rhythm on the match never quite allowing opponents to snatch her leads.
Sharma plays the winner of Beiwen Zhang and Line Christophersen.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
