5 min readNew DelhiMar 22, 2026 12:24 AM IST
Isharani Baruah would surely have had more fuel in her tank than Pitchamon ‘Pink’ Opatniputh, with the Indian on court for just 28 minutes in her semifinal win against Malvika Bansod while the Thai 19-year-old had to spend 70 minutes against Japan’s Riko Gunji. But in the end, it was the Indian’s fatigue that cost her as she went down 12-21, 21-23 in a 52-minute contest against the 2023 Junior World Champion to mark the end of Indian contention.
Opatniputh showed an early glimpse of her talent with a delightful winner at the net for 2-2 – shaping to play a tight spinning net shot, but held the racket a second longer and pushed it over Isharani into the deep forehand corner. Isharani wasn’t quite going all out attack early on, a heavy brace on her left knee perhaps indicating she wasn’t at her 100%. Opatniputh’s movement, however, was all grace in the early exchanges and she opened up a 8-5 lead with an elegant crosscourt slice and then 10-5 with a precise down-the-line smash, using that height advantage to get a steep angle. Isharani, after hitting an inside-out smash wide to hand the Thai a 11-6 lead, appeared a bit flustered during the coaching interval.
The concerns only grew for the Indian as she hit a simple backhand drive wide outside the doubles line to trail 7-13. Isharani tried to extend a 20-shot rally at 9-15 but Opatniputh was ready for the grind, pushed the Indian to the backcourt repeatedly with superb length on her clears and then nailed a straight smash to the Indian’s forehand to go up by seven points. The points Isharani was winning were largely on unforced errors by her teenage opponent. And when the signature double-feet-up jump smash from Isharani did make a fleeting appearance at the end of the opening game, the shuttle landed in the middle of the net to hand Opatniputh the opening game.
Isharani seemed to be moving better at the start of the second game, and played with a bit more aggression in the rallies, but even her best-constructed point ended with an error as the players were locked in a closer contest at 3-3. The Indian did start to find a bit more zing in her attacking shots, her best smash yet of the match – round-the-head inside out across Opatniputh – giving her a 6-3 lead. While a fine run of five straight points ended for Isharani with a wild smash that once again went wide of the doubles line, Isharani got back the serve with a delightful slice drop to the front court.
Isharani then started getting frustrated by Opatniputh’s superb defense, aided by her long limbs, lunging forward and scrambling back with conviction. A five-point lead was whittled down to one after some sensational reflex blocks by the Thai teen when Isharani threw everything at her opponent. Six straight points for Opatniputh – almost all of them ending with Isharani’s unforced errors seemingly out of fatigue – meant she had a 11-10 lead at the interval. The run of consecutive points went up to 8 for Opatniputh and the match seemed done and dusted then.
Isharani had a wry smile on her face after she challenged a line call on the backcourt after letting the shuttle drop and Hawkeye showed that it landed in by the smallest of margins, for a 16-13 lead for the Thai. To her credit, Isharani kept at it and a perfectly placed jump smash to make it a one-point game at 15-16 and repeated it for 16-17. A superb block from Isharani was met with a huge slice of luck at the net cord to help her catch up at 17-17 and she retook the lead too after a fast midcourt exchange.
At this stage, it felt like anybody’s game, and Isharani got back on level terms at 19-19, helped once more – this time indirectly – by the jump smash going across to Opatniputh’s backhand flank.
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The Indian, after playing a superb attacking rally, sent the shuttle just wide from an attempted sliced drop to give Opatniputh a match point when it could well have been a game point for her. The longest rally of the match followed as both players tried to avoid making the decisive error but Isharani got her judgment perfect this time. The Indian then showed her Akane Yamaguchi-inspired defensive skills, sliding on her knees on both sides of the court to keep the shuttle in play and drawing out the error to make it 21-20.
Another brutal rally followed that saw Isharani eventually hit the shuttle wide with a tired-looking shot and even as she challenged it, she went to her bench and stood bent double, stretching out her legs. The tactical breather didn’t help either as she dropped the racket on the court after another tiring rally and had the umpire telling her to get a move on. Eventually, she was left floored on the court by Opatniputh’s crosscourt smash as the Thai star-in-the-making closed out a thrilling second game to set up a final against Nozomi Okuhara.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
