Snehit Suravajjula saves six match points to reach pre-quarters; Indian finalist assured in mixed doubles | Sport-others News

What stood out as he neutralises all those match points was his wicked backhand known for its disconcerting flick pushes. Snehit, as such, is known for his aggressive forehand from where he carved out angles skimming the edges of the table. But the backhand has variations – in reel parlance called the banana flick and strawberry flick – that boggled the Japanese as Snehit played clutch. Those dollops of backhands would do Chennai’s Greams Road Fruit Shop proud, for such was his blade-like blitz, hitting flat that aids his speed and reduces error-margins for opponents as he goes centimetres above the net with those fruity flicks.

He recalled his mindset that went from 0 to 100 during the first two games he lost. “First set I lost 11-9. I was struggling to believe I could compete at his level. But second game I lost – also very close. 14-12 or something (15-17),” he said. His ability to incite chaos in the Japanese was enough to embolden him. “That’s when I started believing I can really compete and I can make strategies. After 2-0 down, I still had lot of belief I can make it. But I focussed on winning one game at one time.”

The higher ranked Japanese reckoned he could seal it in the decider, but Snehit snapped at his heels. “When score was 2-2, in the end I defended 6 or 7 match points. I was just constantly telling myself not to think about the score. Even I had 2 or 3 match points which I couldn’t convert. I was battling in my head ‘dont think of the score, don’t think of the score’ because whenever I was thinking of the score, I Just needed 1 point to win the match, I was rushing my shots,’ he said. In the end the strawberry flick push would clean up the opponent.

Snehit has taken his time to get going on the international circuit but put in plenty of effort into the finer fitness aspects only last year. He has the speed, but can get caught up in trying to rush rallies. Though the sentiment is perfect rather than dawdling away, his execution falters.

Also reaching the Round of 16 were Manush Shah and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, though Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Ankur Bhattacharjee also exited.

In women’s singles, Nithya Mani was the only Indian to reach pre quarters, beating Aussie Minhyung Jee, seeded 14, 10-12, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 in a rollercoaster.

Earlier, the experienced men’s doubles combination of Sathiyan G and Harmeet Desai upset third seed and World Championship bronze medallists French combination of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) to reach the semifinals. They will now face Korean second seeds Lim Jonghoon and Oh Junsung for a place in the final.

In mixed doubles, wild card entrants Payas Jain and the highly rated Syndrela Das upset top seeds Manush Shah and Diya Chitale 3-1 (12-10, 13-11, 10-12, 11-9) to reach the mixed doubles semifinals. They meet Harmeet – Yashaswini Ghorpade in the semis.