India's Achanta Sharath Kamal pulled off a nerve-wracking 4-3 victory against sixth seeded Paul Drinkhall of England to surge into the semi-finals of the India Open here at Thyagaraj Stadium on Saturday.
The seven-time national champion and World No. 62 had to pull out his prime defensive game to outwit and outlast Drinkall, a multiple medal winner in the last two Commonwealth Games.
It proved to be a battle of nerves and patience as Drinkall slowed down the pace of the contest, keeping the ball short while also loading it with devastating spin. Sharath wasn't allowed to play his natural, attacking game and had to rely on each other's errors to win every point. Sharath began on a strong note, racing away to a 11-4 win in the opening game. But Drinkhall quickly got his game together and won the next two games 12-10, 11-9 to put the pressure on the Indian.
The 34-year-old Sharath began to look for openings to attack and came back strongly to win the next two 12-10, 11-9.
In the sixth game, Sharath gave away the psychological advantage after losing the lead twice. Drinkhall rode on the momentum to take the sixth game and placed the match on the needle.
Sharath made a strong start in the decider, going up 2-0 and 3-1 but Drinkhall fought back and took a commanding 8-5 lead. The Indian continued to attack, saved two match points and a couple of forehand drives saw him emerge triumphant. He takes on Japan's 14-year-old sensation Tomokazu Harimoto, who beat the eighth seeded Robert Gardos of Austria 4-2.
Earlier in the day, top seeded Ovtcharov Dimitrij survived a scare to advance into the semi-finals after a gruelling 4-3 victory over Yuya Oshima of Japan.
In the women's singles competition, eighth seeded Wing Nam NG of Hong Kong beat Goergina Pota of Hungary 11-9, 11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3 to set up a semi-final clash against sixth seeded Sakura Mori of Japan who beat Tze Wing Mak of Hong Kong 11-6, 13-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7.