Ashmita Chaliha continued her impressive run at the Korea Masters Super 300, overcoming teenage compatriot Rakshitha Ramraj 21-13 16-21 21-13 to reach her maiden BWF World Tour singles final
ASAN — Ashmita Chaliha continued her impressive run at the Korea Masters Super 300, overcoming teenage compatriot Rakshitha Ramraj 21-13 16-21 21-13 to reach her maiden BWF World Tour singles final, here on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Indian, who returned to competition in May after a three-month layoff due to a medial meniscus tear in her right knee, has enjoyed a strong comeback on the BWF Tour, including a semifinal appearance at the Macau Open.
World Ranked 50 Ashmita, who trains under Park Tae-sang at the National center of excellence, Guwahati, will now battle China’s Han Qianxi for the title in the summit clash.
The World Ranked 35 Qian Xi, seeded fourth, battled past 22-20, 18-21, 21-14 in a one-hour five-minute battle in the other semifinal.
Ashmita's run also marks back-to-back BWF World Tour finals for Indians, with Tanvi Sharma having won the Taipei Open last Sunday.
Also Read: Ashmita, Rakshitha book Korea Masters semifinal showdown
Indian shuttlers have now made finals across several events this season, with Ayush Shetty at the Asia Championships, Lakshya Sen at the All England, Devika Sihag at the Thailand Masters, Kidambi Srikanth at the US Open, Tanvi at the Taipei Open, PV Sindhu at the Japan Open, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty at the Singapore Open, and now Ashmita at the Korea Masters.
Ashmita, who had stunned top seed and world No. 22 Hina Akechi of Japan in the quarterfinals, came out aggressively and quickly moved from 2-2 to 6-2 in the opening game.
She then reeled off five straight points to establish a 13-6 lead before closing the game out 21-13.
Rakshitha, who had upset third seed and compatriot Tanvi Sharma in the quarterfinals after coming from a game down, responded strongly.
Another lift going long gave Rakshitha a five-point advantage.
A brutal smash at 6-12 down from the left-handed Ashmita was the first convincing shot from the Indian in the second game.
Another straight smash, a return of serve going into the net and a long lift from Rakshitha meant Ashmita narrowed the gap to 12-13.
Despite the Assamese shuttler finding a second wind, Rakshitha managed to keep her nose ahead at 17-13 after hurrying her opponent.
At 18-14, Rakshitha sealed another tight rally with a cross-court smash.
Ashmita responded with her own jumping cross-court smash. A weak lift was dispatched with disdain by Rakshitha to grab four game points, and she converted immediately to take the match to the decider.
Back on her winning side, Ashmita made a dominant start, surging to a 9-1 lead quickly with three smashes. Rakshitha also made a few unforced errors.
She made a net error next as Ashmita took an overwhelming 11-3 advantage at the final interval.
The change of sides once again brought a change of fortune for Rakshitha as she started dominating the rallies and Ashmita became error-prone.
The Hyderabad-based Indian narrowed the gap to 7-12 before Ashmita again found her bearings to move to 15-7.
Rakshitha seemed a little flustered as she tried too much, often leading to errors such as a reverse drop going into the net or missing the backline.
Each error only compounded her agony as Ashmita moved to 18-9.
A smash earned Ashmita nine match points.
She squandered two before Rakshitha sprayed one wide to hand her the win in 48 minutes.