Luck, set and Game for Okuhara on her birthday

Lucky day or unlucky day? On this Friday the 13th, that question was particularly important for Japanese athlete Nozomi OKUHARA. In the women’s singles quarter-final of the Yonex Swiss Open, Okuhara faced her compatriot Riko GUNJI today. It was clear from the start: this was going to be a close match – Okuhara is ranked 22nd in the world, with Gunji just two places behind her at 24th.

Right from the first set, the two Japanese players were locked in a closely contested battle, with the set going point for point. Interestingly, Gunji was supported by a coach, whereas Okuhara was not: normally, in matches between players from the same country, coaches are not present for the sake of fairness. However, due to repeated injuries and other priorities, Okuhara has not been part of the Japanese national team for some time and is therefore competing independently.

Despite benefitting from coaching unlike her opponent, 23-year-old Riko Gunji just couldn’t quite score enough points against her more experienced compatriot in the first set, and the set went 21–19 in Okuhara’s favour.

Okuhara, who is celebrating her 31st birthday today, probably had mixed feelings about Basel. At the World Championships held here in the St. Jakobshalle in 2019, she lost the final dramatically to P. V. Sindhu (IND). But today's Friday the 13th seemed to be a lucky day for her after all: Riko Gunji made more and more errors in the second set, and birthday girl Okuhara knew how to put her opponent under pressure at just the right moments.

Gunji, who had won the title at the 2019 Junior World Championships, was ultimately unable to force a third set despite her great fighting spirit and lost the match 21-19, 21-18.

Image: Nozomi Okuhara