Chodri Beats the Pressure to Close Out US National Team Spot

Chodri Beats the Pressure to Close Out US National Team Spot
BY MATT HETHERINGTON / USATT

Kunal Chodri became the second player to upset the order as he claimed the second berth on the 2017 US National Men’s Team at the National Team Trials today. As we saw on day 1 as Adar Alguetti hit top form and earned his place, it was Kunal who stepped it up on day 2.

Early on in the round of 16 he would account for Nathan Hsu in 5 games. In this early stage there was only one match which caused an interesting result and that was the 4-0 win of Victor Liu over 4th seed Nikhil Kumar. Liu reached the semifinal on Day 1 and looked to be in relatively good form again today. Sharon and Gal Alguetti would advance to the quarterfinals to remain in the draw along with Krish Avvari, Nicholas Tio, Shao Yu and Kanak Jha.

The quarterfinals would see the level of intensity step up and Kunal Chodri would continue to gain momentum as he overcame first day finalist Nicholas Tio in 5 games, Tio stealing away one game in deuce but otherwise smooth sailing for Chodri. There were tense moments in other matches as Gal Alguetti fought his way through a back and forth battle to take victory 12-10 in the 7th over Shao Yu, the 44 year old veteran proving himself a great contender so far in this competition among many younger opponents.

Sharon Alguetti would make his break for the semifinals after an explosive 4-1 win over Victor Liu. Sharon certainly doing his best to exert positive energy and lift his game. On Table 1 it would be a battle of the 1 and 3 seeds of day 1 as Kanak Jha and Krish Avvari faced off. Kanak started out strong with a 2-0 lead before Krish fought his way back in with a bit more aggression behind him. The games were close but Jha’s tighter serve and receive as well as more efficient game plan helped him carry through to the end.

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