Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto of India outplayed the third seeded Dutch pair of Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen 21-12, 21-12 to advance to the final of the Yonex-Sunrise Guwahati Masters BWF Super 100 International badminton tournament here on Saturday.
On a day when Indians in other categories—Malvika Bansod (women’s singles), Amsakarunan Hariharan and Ruban Kumar (men’s doubles), and Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto (mixed doubles)—failed in the last four matches, Ashwini and Tanisha brought joy to a sparse crowd.
The way Ashwini (34 years old) and Tanisha (20 years old) compete and compliment each other on court is exciting: Ashwini is elegant with calculated movements, while Tanisha is vibrant and aggressive at the net with full passion. The Indian duo will be the favourites when they face Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui in the final on Sunday. In the second women’s doubles semifinal, the Taipei combination easily defeated Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu of Australia 21-15, 21-19.
Malvika’s loss was rather easy. She was passive and never pushed the tempo of the play against Thailand’s Lalinrat Chaiwan. The game was slow-paced, with both players waiting for the other to make a mistake. To the Indian’s chagrin, Lalinrat performed some exquisite crosscourt drops. Furthermore, Malvika made several unforced errors in both sets and did not look to be capable of winning the match.
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