3 min readUpdated: Apr 26, 2026 01:01 AM IST
Polina Burhova, the Ukrainian top singles shuttler, knew where to trap Unnati Hooda – the dipping drops and tumbles on the Indian’s forehand forecourt. Unnati really struggled on that lunge, and lost half a dozen points there. But the 18-year-old who had lost to higher ranked experienced Line Kjaersfeldt against Denmark, restored her confidence with a 21-19, 22-20 win to put India 1-0 up.
Unnati knows to keep a rally going and can play the two extra strokes without spraying the shuttle wide or long. More crucially, she can stay engaged in exchanges till the opponent makes a mistake. So as she stubbornly ceded no easy points, her net-defense was hugely tested as she allowed a 10-4 lead to go to waste in the opening set.
But Unnati took charge at 14-14 and then worked hard to close out, raising the quality of her strokes and sharpness to parry away Burhova, at 21-19.
In the second, Unnati was in one right picke trailing 8-13. But the 23rd ranked Indian showed the fight and focus that has helped her defeat Supanida and Sindhu in the past. Her straight sets loss to Kjaersfeldt, ranked 26, and immensely experienced at age 32, had put paid to India’s hopes of winning the tie against the hosts, with Tanvi Sharma losing too. But against Ukraine tasked with leading the singles, Unnati would calmly go about cutting down the lead till she levelled finally at 18-all. From there she piled the pressure on Burhova, attacking from the forecourt.
She earned the match point after an intense rally luring Burhova into a mistake, and went onto convert the first chance.
Playing the second singles, Tanvi Sharma started well, stuttered in mid set as she couldn’t keep a lock on her errors, but finished dominantly with crisp shotmaking to the back court, even when fatigued against Evhelina Kantemyr. She needed the decider to win 21-12, 17-21, 21-10.
Devika Sihag started slow in the third singles against Maria Stoliarenko, her defense a little iffy at the beginning. But once the tall player got her deep attack going, the Ukrainian stood no chance as Devika sent smashes down that make her a dangerous prospect. Tall and with sting in her hits to the back, the Indian eventually won 23-21, 21-13 in 38 minutes.
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Once again hearteningly for India, just like Unnati, Devika too could up the gears in finishing. So boggled was Stoliarenko after she was overhauled in the opening set after being 18-15 up by a quick striking Devika, that she stayed zapped in the second going down tamely.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
