19 year old Anupama pulls a huge upset by beating veteran Beiwen Zhang to book a pre- quarterfinal spot at ongoing LI-NING CHINA MASTERS 2024 which is a super-750 event.
Due to the withdrawal of Nozomi Okuhara WR50 Anupama Upadhyaya got a last minute entry in the main-draw against world rank 15 Beiwen Zhang from USA
34 years old American is not an ordinary opponent with her experience and also a remarkable season so far troubling some of the icons which includes PV Sindhu, Chen Yu Fei and Carolina Marin.
Anupama played a composed game where she took the early lead 11 – 3 and looked comfortable with 8 game points in her hand at 20 – 12 up.
Experienced Zhang saved five of them before loosing the opener by 17 – 21.
Singapore origin build on the momentum and out played the young Indian in second game with 21 – 8 score line thus, forcing a deciding game.
Indian dynamo seems to be in danger when she was 5 – 7 down at the decider being on advantage side of the court. However, she played better to open up a 16 – 11 lead.
Beiwen crawled back into the match due to unforced errors coming from Indian side of the court.
In the final game Anupama was up 20-18 but the American clawed back to make it 20-20 and then the Indian scored two points to win the match.
After 48 minutes of sweating Anupama eliminated Beiwen in extra points to move into pre quarterfinals.
Anupama faces world rank 26 Natsuki Nidaira from Japan for a spot in Quarterfinals.
Natsuki won over WR9 the 7th seed compatriot Ohori in previous round .
Importance of this Win
Youngest national champion (2023) Anupama has done something even Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu couldn’t achieve in their junior days i.e. Junior World no.1
2024 is a great season for her winning two international Challenger tournaments Kazakhstan International challenge and Orlen
Polish Open.
She had also reached semis in Azerbaijan and Denmark. Almora born Anupama has a decent career record with 102 wins compared to 43 losses.
Her highest rank in 43 which she achieved in August earlier this year. Today’s win also means she will be Indian WS3 next week replacing Aakarshi Kashyap behind Sindhu and Malvika Bansod.
Anupama got a all-rounder game but the calm gameplay at crucial stage is a sharp weapon in
high quality matches. The next gen superstar will look forward to dig deep in Shenzhen, China.
Written By Nishant
