Mithun Manjunath defeats World No 7 Loh Kean Yew

Mithun Manjunath stuck to the gameplan of attacking Loh Kean Yew’s backhand side, peppering him with 10 smashes there, to register his biggest career win against the World No 7, winning Round 1 at Australia Open 21-19, 21-19. In the process of beating the 2021 World champion, the World No 50 Indian also shrugged off his habit of imploding at the finish of a match in a pool of errors.

Just last week in Japan, Mithun had led Chinese Weng Hong Yang 18-11 before going on to lose 24-22 and then go down in the decider. “I’d lost from a leading position last week in Japan, because I got desperate to finish. Today I kept my nerve,” Mithun said later. The last time he played Loh, the Indian 25-year-old had lost in three.

Mithun led Loh 19-13 and 20-14 again, before the Singaporean won 6 points to close the gap to within 20-19. “I did get desperate to win that 1 point but even at 20-19 I was confident I could do it,” he would say.

Mithun pulled out a deceptive peach from the net at this point – a backhand shot that went straight when Loh expected it to go diagonal, following it with a cross that sent Loh scrambling down the other flank, working up an angle so the Singaporean hit wide, and couldn’t force a decider, going down in straight sets.

“The idea was to keep the shuttle in play and not give easy lifts. I was pretty confident after Japan Open,” Mithun said of not repeating the same mistakes. Earlier he had closed out the opening set too, from 18-19 down.

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Loh scored mostly through smashes down both the wings, though Mithun showed good defense across the body to stay in pace with the Top Tenner at 6-7. Not only was Mithun finding the right length at the net and flicking the shuttle back at the last moment, his deep smashing was bothering Loh as he kept peppering the backhand side with straight and cross smashes.

Mithun trailed 9-11 at first interval, but took a 16-13 lead, moving Loh front and back. A tight dribble at the net gave Mithun a narrow 18-16 lead, but errors set him back to 18-19. He would score the next three points confidently to take the opener, unlike previous times when he had botched finishes.

Mithun levelled 19-19 with a sharp drop from the net, then hit the next into Loh’s body. Pinging him to the forehand on the subsequent point, he smashed to the backhand to take the opener.

“Loh is a very fast player, so all the time I was thinking of not lifting the shuttle. I mixed my strokes – smashes and drops well,” Mithun said. With the shuttles fast, both players were reluctant to play tosses, but Mithun’s credit lay in not allowing Loh to rip through with his smashing, by pushing him back with the flicks.

In the second, Mithun would once again target Loh’s far backhand with good deep smashes to stay level on points till 6-6 with the Singaporean. Loh would go wide and overhit to drop 6-11 behind at the interval. The Indian National champion though was drawing out net errors striking a good length to go up 19-9.

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Loh would increase the pace of his attack and earn some quick winners on the rearguard and reach 20-19 with 6 points, with Mithun erring to the backline. The Indian would finish with a smart swagger though. “I play that deception often at the net,” he would say of the set-up that drew out the wide error from Loh.

“The one thing I told him at the end was he had to keep approaching the net very fast and not to leave the net,” said coach Sagar Chopda.

Japan Open wasn’t the only time Mithun had frittered leads. Twice he led Chou Tien Chen early at Taipei in June, before faltering. “It’s a difficult task playing top players, but you have to figure it out,” he said after his biggest win since beating Srikanth in the nationals semis. “There are no easy points at this level. The pace is certainly different, top players increase the pace and play. From the start of the game you have to stay along with them because it’s difficult to make up 5-6 point leads. This win is a huge confidence booster and makes me believe nothing is impossible,” said the Bangalorean who next plays Malaysian Lee Zii Jia.

Coach Chopda added, “Mithun has been playing well in patches, but at 25 the realisation has hit him that the time to up his game is now.” A 21-4 set scoreline against Ng Tze Yong at Korea was an eye opener. “He’s changed his diet pattern because he knows he has a tendency to put on weight. He’s been sincere. The Korea loss made him realise he has to grind it out. I’m happy he got his first Top Ten win, but he needs more of those consistently.”