In Tanvi Sharma’s Orleans Masters semifinal defeat against Nozomi Okuhara, lessons to be learnt for the promising teenager

Tanvi has already produced some eye-catching performances this year on the senior circuit even in defeats – notably against world No 2 Wang Zhi Yi at India Open. But Saturday’s display – without taking anything away from her impressive run to the semifinals – wasn’t one of her best. So early in her promising career, though, it’s the kind of defeat that can help her grow.

The first lesson would be to start matches with better rhythm, be dialled in from the word go. Tanvi made three soft unforced errors on the trot to hand Okuhara the early initiative. But once she got rid of the early jitters, Tanvi moved Okuhara around the court, using the deep forehand corner to good effect to pin the Japanese back for a couple of hard-earned points. But the Indian continued to struggle with her accuracy, trailing 2-6 after back-to-back errors.

Another lesson would be knowing when to attack and when to dig in. A crosscourt half smash from Tanvi couldn’t have caught the sideline any closer, but that kind of precision eluded the Indian for the majority of the first half as she missed the same white marker twice in a row to trail 6-11 at the interval. When she knew her radar wasn’t firing, Tanvi could have played a bit more conservatively instead of going for broke.

In that January conversation with this daily, Tanvi had said she’d like to inculcate Sindhu’s aggression in her game. The double-Olympic medallist understands better than most how to use her body language to try and get into the heads of her opponents, letting out guttural roars to pump herself up when down. But with Okuhara dominating the rallies, Tanvi looked subdued and a bit lost for answers. Case in point was a rally completely dictated by Tanvi, only for the famed Okuhara defence to kick in and she won the point with a sensational spinning shot at the net. Okuhara soon closed out the opener in double-quick time.

The start to the second game was again less than ideal from Tanvi as she made three errors to trail 0-3. There was better body language briefly from Tanvi as she took the shuttle early midcourt to catch Okuhara off guard with a clever round-the-head winner for 2-3 but it was a flash in the pan in the opening exchanges as the Indian found herself down 3-7 after a wild miss on her smash.

If Tanvi had any chance of making a contest out of this, she had to tire Okuhara out and be patient in rallies – the point for 5-7 gave some hope for her, as she got the better of the net exchange with Okuhara, a rarity in the match till then.

The rally that saw Okuhara win for an 11-7 lead in the second game was of the vintage kind. Tanvi controlled the point superbly, reading Okuhara’s deception well enough and starting to use the angles herself to have the Japanese scampering around. But scampering around is something of a trademark for Okuhara, and her hustle kept the shuttle in play long enough for Tanvi to make the error. The Indian youngster stood in a corner of the court, bent double as Okuhara bowed out of the playing area as she does, comfortably in the driver’s seat.

Just when the match seemed done and dusted, Tanvi suddenly found herself smack bang in the middle of an even contest, catching up at 12-12. That the longest rally lasted 25 shots, deep into the second game at 15-13, told a tale. Tanvi tried to push Okuhara back with the crosscourt clears and then draw her forward – but Okuhara’s incredible footwork meant she was able to get to every shuttle that Tanvi might have thought was about to hit the floor.

For 19-14 then, Okuhara added one more moment to the highlight reel, diving full stretch to her forehand flank to dig the shuttle out inches away from the floor and convert a desperately defensive situation into a winner. At that point, Tanvi could only have doffed a hat to her opponent in her head. And, going forward, know what it takes to succeed against the game’s elite deeper into tournaments.