Tanvi enters Taipei Open final, Unnati loses

TAIPEI CITY: Young Indian shuttler Tanvi Sharma stayed on course for her maiden BWF World Tour title, producing another commanding display to outclass Chinese Taipei's Huang Yu-Hsun in straight games and enter the women's singles final of the Taipei Open Super 300 here on Saturday.

The 17-year-old from Punjab, who finished runner-up at last year's US Open Super 300, outclassed World No. 24 Yu-Hsun 21-17 21-11 in a one-sided semifinal that lasted just 33 minutes.

It could have been a dream final between two Indians but Unnati Hooda suffered a 15-21 18-21 loss to world No. 21 Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam in the other women's singles semifinal.

Tanvi, the Junior World Championships silver medallist, will take on the Vietnamese sixth seed in Sunday's title clash.

Tanvi, who was part of India's gold medal-winning squad at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championships, has enjoyed a rapid rise over the last two years.

Besides finishing runner-up at the Odisha Masters Super 100 and Guwahati Masters Super 100 in 2025, she has won the Bonn International in 2024 and the Denmark Challenge in 2025.

Tanvi displayed her repertoire of attacking strokes, repeatedly unsettling Huang with her steep cross-court smashes and disguised pushes to the back court.

In the opening game, from 3-3 it was 7-6 as Huang tried to stay within touching distance for most of the contest. Tanvi, however, maintained a slender lead throughout, moving from 14-10 to 17-11.

The local player narrowed it down to 15-17 before Tanvi raised her intensity at the closing stages to seal the opening game comfortably.

The Indian's ability to finish rallies quickly denied Huang any rhythm, with the home shuttler struggling to cope with the pace and angles her rival generated.

In the second game, Huang drew level at 9-9 but Tanvi tightened her game and produced precise strikes from the back court while mixing deft drops at the net. She reeled off 12 of the last 14 points to wrap up the contest with a near-flawless finish.

In the other match, Nguyen took control midway through the opening game after the two were locked in an intense battle in the early exchanges.

With the scores at 6-8, a few judgment errors from Unnati allowed the Vietnamese to stretch her lead to 11-6 at the interval.

Constantly moving the Indian around the court with precise placements to the corners, Nguyen opened up a 16-10 advantage before Unnati briefly reduced the deficit to 12-16.

But the sixth seed responded with a stunning cross-court winner and maintained her composure in the closing stages, converting her second game point when Unnati's return sailed long.

The Indian looked a transformed player after the change of ends, racing to a 5-0 lead as Nguyen struggled with unforced errors.

Although the Vietnamese clawed her way back to 8-8, Unnati regained control to lead 11-9 at the mid-game interval and later extended the advantage to 16-12 with a series of well-angled winners.

However, the momentum swung dramatically thereafter as Nguyen raised the pace of the rallies and forced errors from the Indian, winning five of the next six points to level at 17-17.

She then moved ahead with a cross-court smash and then a precise winner clipped the back line earned her two match points. Nguyen sealed the contest with a sharp interception at the net to book her place in the final.