Indonesian Alwi Farhan continued his dominance over batchmate Ayush Shetty, confirming that the young Indian has some way to go before he can sustain his power attack through the length of a tournament. Ayush had been scorching through his early matches including the sensational win over No 1 Shi Yuqi. But tournament-play demands problem solving through assorted puzzles through a week.

Ayush didn’t have all the answers on Thursday though he had won their last faceoff.

“Just three weeks ago, Ayush had beaten Alwi Farhan in the China Open, but today Alwi played the more tactical game and never allowed Ayush to take the initiative,” his coach Vimal Kumar said.

The tall Indian’s tentative mindset didn’t help as he went into reactive mode. “Ayush seemed more concerned about what Alwi was going to do rather than taking the game to him. He had a good opportunity to take the first game when he was leading 19-18, but a couple of tentative shots at the net cost him crucial points. That was a turning point in the match,” Vimal explained.

In the second game, playing from the better end, Ayush needed to be more aggressive and open up the court, the coach stressed. “He also struggled to connect cleanly with his hard smashes, whereas Alwi was timing his smashes much better,” he added.

In big halls where the drift can have a major influence on the shuttle, the smash connections can go skewed if the timing is off. “A few of Ayush’s smashes were not accurate enough and went too close to Alwi, allowing him to return them comfortably,” Vimal would point out. “Those missed opportunities also seemed to affect Ayush mentally.”

The coach reckoned the Indonesian’s smooth execution of the straight hits plan (thus avoiding tempting fate with sidelines) worked seamlessly. “Overall, Alwi played the more composed and tactically disciplined match today, while Ayush was too tentative at crucial moments and did not impose his game enough,” he said.