Is Tanvi Sharma’s game developing more like Saina Nehwal’s than PV Sindhu’s?

There were two Saina hallmarks from the back court at Quaycentre in Sydney – she struck the shuttle early in its trajectory, and her smashes though not steep, travelled long and deep. Tanvi consistently attacked Malvika’s flank defense, by getting the depth in her smashes from the back court. It’s not raw power like the Hissar-Hyderabad legend, but innate timing in the Hoshiarpur woman’s case. So even if she’s not light on her feet, Tanvi is reaching under the shuttle just about and striking it flat – a literal whiplash.

Her round-the-head hit needs plenty of work, but like Saina, she can hammer smashes from a little distance away from the point above her head. And the round the head is used for drops – which is not a shabby shot selection by any standard. Sending smashes a little straighter cuts down on crooked errors straightaway.

Her recent error-counts were high because she was apparently struggling from a post-dengue lack of strength. But she was also letting it rip on crosscourts and tempting fate, which she isn’t this week.

Even the high serve stance – as she holds the shuttle far at arm’s length, is Saina-esque. The short serve, is sufficiently drama-free.

Tanvi also has the racquet-head turning drops, where the tiniest twirl of the wrist brings an element of deception. She’s using them well to draw out errors on the forecourt. Finally, the inside out crosscourt smash has echoes of the smash from 20 years ago. They mostly went to Malvika’s forehand, but the Nagpur shuttler just couldn’t pick them because of the whip on them.

Tanvi has a better backhand from the backcourt than any of the young Indians, save Anmol Kharb perhaps – she’s sending them down the line and deep. At the net, she isn’t caught out, can play the holding game with one tumble, and can seriously incorporate Saina’s wrist-roll return which fetched her hundreds of openings. But the net-dribble variations are a wide array she can choose from.

The errors are down mostly to adapting to drift. And the win was a World No 36, defeating a World No 46. Tanvi allowed Malvika upto 13-15 in the opener, and then took off with a 6 point acceleration in the first. In the second she led 17-15, before wrapping up on 4 points on a bounce.

In the other all-India match PV Sindhu had to beat back the jumpy Isharani Baruah 22-20, 21-12, and plays Chen Su Yu on Friday.

For Tanvi, it’s a good chance to test Akane Yamaguchi, who will have a sturdier defense and a stronger hit, as her rally game will be tested.