Shortly after noon No.2 seed and National champion Arvind Bhat was knocked out of the second edition of the Tata Open. He ran into journeyman K Tanishaq.
Shortly after noon No.2 seed and National champion Arvind Bhat was knocked out of the second edition of the Tata Open. He ran into journeyman K Tanishaq. At 27, Tanishaq has been a dangerous floater all his career. The Hyderabad-based player accounts among his big scalps Anup Sridhar, Ajay Jayaram and Sagar Chopda.
After playing four qualifying rounds to get to the main draw, Tanishaq was supposed to wilt against Bhat. But it was the National champion who was dull on Friday. Tanishaq won 21-19 21-16. At the Cricket Club of India courts there were early indications that Tanishaq was in great form. Promising Prakash Jolly couldn’t win a game against Tanishaq in the last two rounds of the qualifiers. Bhat, coming off a lacklustre showing during the recent Asian tour, was keen to notch up some wins ahead of the World Champions in Hyderabad next month. Tanishaq spoilt his preparations. “I played a safe game. I decided to defend. It worked for me today. This is a big win for me. I really don’t know when I play well and when I don’t.
Now, I am not sure if I’ll beat my next round opponent or not,” Tanishaq, a SM Arif ward, said. By evening he had edged past Mohit Kamat of Karnataka 21-19 21-19 to set up a quarterfinal clash with No.7 seed Guru Sai Dutt.
Bhat is going to take a week’s holiday. Bhat was in quest of the mental zone, one which allows him to play at his best. “I wasn’t patient enough. I made too many unforced errors. I haven’t been playing well recently. Physically I am in great shape. I am doing more weight training than before and I feel fitter than before. I just need to match my mental form with my physical form. I am going on a holiday. I’ll probably jog and cycle but I will be off the courts. Hopefully, it’ll work for me,” Bhat said before catching a flight back to Bangalore.
The National champion is confident he can put this defeat behind him. “I can forget bad matches very quickly. I’ll remember it only for today. I wish I could play like a Prakash Padukone or Roger Federer but it is not happening at the moment,” Bhat added.
Meanwhile top seeds Chetan Anand and Aditi Mutatkar sailed into the quarterfinals.
Results: Round II (Men) Chetan Anand bt Vinay Kumar Reddy 21-15 21-13, Ajay Jayaram bt Pratik Patel 21-15 21-10, P Kashyap bt Saurabh Verma 21-19 21-12, SDS Krishna beat JBS Vidyadhar 11-21 21-9 21-13, Sagar Chopda bt Anshuman Hazarika 19-21 21-11 21-10, Anand Pawar bt Srujan Nandaluri 21-14 21-19, Mohit Kamat lost to K Tanishaq 21-19 21-19, RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Thomas Kurien 21-19 21-9; (Women)Aditi Mutatkar bt Trupti Lavaniya 21-13 21-12, Neha Pandit bt Radhika Singh Bhati 21-12 21-2, M Ashwini Ponnappa bt Bibari Basumatary 21-16 21-14, Gayatri Vartak bt Saloni Yadav 21-17 21-16, Trupti Murgunde W/O, Mudra Dhainje bt Arundhati Pantawane 21-11 12-21 21-16, Sayali Gokhale bt Saumya Padhye 21-13 21-12Parssa Naqvi bt Manali Sinha 21-13 21-15.
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