CHENNAI: Youngster Tanvi Sharma booked a spot in the semifinals of the Orleans Masters after beating Natsuki Nidaira of Japan in straight games on Friday.
The Indian won 21-14, 21-14 in the BWF World Tour Super 300 meet.
Tanvi, a world junior silver medallist, was guilty of making unforced errors in the early stages of the match and in the process was trailing 4-8 but she kept her composure to make a brilliant recovery, forcing her opponent to make mistakes by mixing her shots. As the game wore on, the Indian was playing with more confidence and finding pockets of spaces in Nidaira's half on regularity. She had turned the tables in no time to take an 11-8 lead heading into the first break. However, Nidaira, 10 years her senior, fought back to go in front soon after the break.
But Tanvi upped her game to reel off five consecutive points to take the game by the throat. Two back-to-back unanswered smashes on either side of Nidaira was the highlight then. In no time, Tanvi went on to clinch the game.
The second game was close too, especially after the break. But Tanvi once again stepped up at the business end to win by a comfortable margin in the end.
Tanvi will be up against another Japanese opponent in the last-four stage. She'll face Olympic medallist Nozomi Okuhara, who's the No 5 seed.
In their only meeting at the Syed Modi International last year, Tanvi had come back from behind to get the better of the experienced Okuhara in three games.
Meanwhile, Indian men's doubles pairing of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun's campaign ended. The pair lost 21-12, 22-20 in 35 minutes against No 3 seeds Leo Rolly Carnando and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia.