Anupama Bagri/TNN
Mumbai, Oct 24: Last August an unheralded Chetan Anand narrowly missed out on pulling off a huge upset at the World Championships when he squandered an 18-13 lead in the decider to lose the opener against ninth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro. On Thursday in Odense, Denmark, the Indian avenged the loss to the Indonesian with a stunning 21-18, 21-18 win to storm into the quarterfinals of the $200,000 Super Series event.
Chetan, who has been on a roll of late, showed no signs of nerve against the fifth-ranked Kuncoro, one of the Tour's most consistent players this season with three Super Series titles and a quarterfinal appearance at the Beijing Olympics.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised with today's win," exclaimed the 28-year-old Hyderabadi, who was competing in the Super Series after a gap of seven months.
"My coach (SM Arif) and I had chalked out a strategy for this match and it paid off. I played really well at the net and he was clearly uncomfortable with my dribbles," he told TOI , about the Athens bronze medalist.
Chetan, who jumped five slots to No. 20 in the rankings released on Thursday, will face either 30th-ranked Dutch Eric Pang or local favourite and World No. 6 Kenneth Jonassen for a place in the last-four.
Kuncoro, the World Championship runner-up, started off well racing to a 4-0 lead. The 24-year-old Indonesian increased his lead to 13-9 before Chetan rattled off four straight points to draw parity. The game went neck-and-neck thereafter till 18-all before the Indian pocketed three consecutive points to go one-up.
Chetan carried the momentum into the second game and opened a small lead at 8-6. Kuncoro, however, fought back to nudge ahead 12-11. But the in-form Chetan kept the attack and picked up four straight points to move up 15-12.
The Indian was always in the lead thereafter and while Kuncoro saved one match point at 17-20, Chetan sealed the issue on the second.
Meanwhile, national mixed doubles champions Jwala Gutta and V Diju lost 16-21, 17-21 to the fourth seeded British combine of Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg in the second round.