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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were 21-17, 18-15 up against the Popovs, Toma Jr and Christo and proceeded to take 2 match points.
But returning to wonky ways, they got dragged into a decider before eventually swatting the French 21-17, 22-24, 21-9 to keep their unblemished record.
The What-ifs from Thomas Cup in Horsens will never go away, and it will always be debated if India could’ve made second finals had Satwik-Chirag (slotted at 5th rubber) and (injured) Lakshya Sen gotten into the mix. But the Indians stomped to take the first set, made a hash of the second and then asserted their dominance to enter the quarters.
They play Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen next.
Tanvi Sharma put up one hell of a fight, but lacked the finishing nous against Japanese World No 9 Tomoka Miyazaki, losing 17-21, 21-18, 16-21. What was slightly worrying was how the 17-year-old Indian had lost similarly to the 20-year-old Miyazaki back in January’s Indonesia Masters. Her excellent repertoire of strokes and overhead deception was silenced by a more experienced opponent who knew how to deflate Tanvi in the closing stages of the opening and third set.
An increase in hand speed and aggression dialled up a notch, saw Tanvi stop believing in herself and smash out twice when a stronger mental makeup could’ve seen her past her first Top 10 scalp. She lacked in nothing but belief, and the poor body language emboldened an opponent whom she was out-hitting till the 10-6 mark in the decider as she lost to her 6th opponent in the Top 10 bracket.
Earlier, Tanvi had come roaring back from 7-16 down to within a point of Miyazaki mixing her round the head crosscourt smashes with her outstanding front court drops. Miyazaki is a typical Japanese who prides herself on anticipation and swift footwork. But she was continually getting wrong-footed owing to the Indian’s stellar strokemaking. Tanvi targeted her backhand back corner and drew her forward immediately after.
However, Miyazaki held the stronger shape in closing out the opener. She was still a little dazed and thrown off in the second, allowing Tanvi to level the set scores. In the third, Tanvi went from 10-7 to 12-16 down even as Miyazaki steadied her game and struck with more aggression. Tanvi got to within 15-17 but was all at sea in finishing, going for the lines in desperation and smashing wildly wide, though Miyazaki drew out those errors forcing her to commit to smashing from acute angles.
Mixed doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila fell to giantkillers and conquerors of World champs Giquel-Delrue, the Taiwanese Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui 21-18, 21-18.