Chetan Anand

Mumbai: Chetan Anand wasn’t at his best but was still good enough to notch up fluent victories to advance to the men’s singles final of the Tata Open all-India ranking badminton tournament here on Saturday.

Anand, the world No.14, shrugged off a momentary lapse in concentration to overcome sixth seed Ajay Jayaram 14-21, 21-19, 21-17 in the quarter finals in the morning, and then returned a few hours later to tame third seed P. Kashyap 21-11, 21-12 in the semis.

The 28-year-old will take on local favourite Anand Pawar in the final on Sunday.

Pawar, son of former shuttles Uday and Sujata, was in sizzling form on Saturday as he blew away challenges from Sagar Chopda (21-13, 21-10) and Guru Sai Dutt (21-12, 21-14).

“I lost focus in the morning and made some unforced errors to lose the first game. But in the second game I started well and attacked the shuttle,” Anand said after his semis win.

Another challenge that Anand faced was the drift in the air, thanks to the air-conditioning system at the new indoor facility at the Cricket Club of India.

For the summit clash, if Pawar has the home advantage, Anand enjoys a psychological edge over his rival, having beaten him twice last year in the Goa nationals in February and in Belgium in September.

Having lost from match point positions on both occasions, Pawar is aware an upset win over the India’s ace shuttler would help break some shackles of the mind.

“It’s about time I started converting those almost-wins to wins. I don’t want to be seen as somebody who has got close to the top but didn’t make it to the top,” Pawar said.

“It has happened a lot of times. I have lost 21-18 in the third set to I don’t know how many players. Once you win one or two such matches, then things will be easy,” said the 22-year-old. Incidentally, Pawar’s only win against Anand had come in Mumbai in 2006.

Results

Men’s singles: Semi-finals: Chetan Anand bt P. Kashyap 21-11, 21-12; Anand Pawar bt Guru Sai Dutt 21-12, 21-14.

Quarter finals: Chetan Anand bt Ajay Jayaram 14-21, 21-19, 21-17; P. Kashyap bt S.D.S Krishna 21-3, 21-6; Anand Pawar bt Sagar Chopda 21-13, 21-10; Guru Sai Dutt bt Tanishaq K 21-10, 21-13.

Women’s singles: Semi-finals: Neha Pandit bt Gayatri Vartak 21-8, 21-13; Sayali Gokhale bt Trupti Murgunde 21-19, 14-21, 21-18.

Quarter finals: Neha Pandit bt Aditi Mutatkar 21-11, 21-12; Trupti Murgunde bt Mudra Dhainje 21-13, 21-8; Sayali Gokhale bt Parssa Naqvi 21-11, 21-15; Gayatri Vartak bt Ashwini Ponnappa 21-14, 19-21, 21-14.