It was a pity Beiwen Zhang couldn't savour the greatest moment of her career. She had just pulled off a monumental upset, beating defending champion PV Sindhu 21-18 11-21 22-20 in a nailbiting final of the India Open. Yet, a few minutes after balancing her oversized novelty cheque for USD 26250 - the biggest win of her career -- in a corner of the press conference room and then sitting for questions, Zhang was apologising. "I'm really sorry I have to leave or I'm going to miss my flight," she said before rushing off to catch her flight to Singapore.
Right through the tournament, no one could accuse Zhang being short of words. Her story was that of the consummate underdog. She had spoken freely about everything that made the 27-year-old an oddity on the international circuit. Of her origins as a native Chinese who moved to Singapore for a better shot at a career, then fought with her coach before moving to the badminton backwater of Las Vegas.
She had spoken about playing without a coach in her corner and of talking strategy over email. Of scraping together her resources to eke out a career as a traveling professional and then of her differences with the USA national federation. "They first wanted me to reach the top 20 to get funding, then it was the top 10, then it was to win a tournament."
She had been honest about her injuries and her limitations. "When I think I'm good, I find out I'm actually not," she had joked. You learned about the ligament tears on her right foot and the fact that she was made fit to compete every day by Anand Kumar, a physio who usually works with the kids taking tennis coaching at the Siri Fort Stadium.
There was little doubt that Zhang was not favoured to win. Considering the fact that she had booked her flight so close to the final, it's possible Zhang didn't even expect to reach that stage. She was expected to be the perfect foil for Sindhu to defend her India Open crown - tough enough to make the match interesting for the spectators but not seriously threaten Sindhu either. They had played four international matches before this one. All of them had gone to a decider with Sindhu winning three. They had played on the same court at the PBL last year with Sindhu once again winning in three after dropping the first game.
Zhang, whose previous best result on the professional circuit was an appearance in the final of the 2016 French Open Superseries, however chose the best possible moment to rewrite the script.
Her strategy before the match had been simple. "Just play without pressure. There was no pressure on me. All of the pressure was on Sindhu," she said. "My new coach gave me a lot of ideas. He pointed out the game clearly. So, it's easier for me in my head what I need to do when my opponent is leading," she said.
She negated Sindhu's attack almost entirely, returning the Indian's smashes in the first set. Where others have attempted to beat Sindhu with deception and skill, Zhang played Sindhu at her own game. "I'm more of a rally player. I'm not usually this aggressive. I played like an attacking player today," she said.
It was an unexpected scenario for Sindhu to find herself in. In her semi-final against World No. 3 Intanon Ratchanok, the Indian had simply overpowered her opponent by hitting through her. Ratchanok was stuck in the unenviable situation of trying to place the shuttle past Sindhu - an increasingly difficult task considering the court span of the lanky Indian.
Zhang didn't lose herself in subtleties. She aimed at returning the shuttle as quickly as possible to the other side of the net. By doing so, she denied Sindhu time and the space to position herself under a high clear and hit her smashes. Even when Sindhu did manage to attack, the fact that she had been hurried into the stroke meant Zhang was more often than not able to retrieve the Indian's smashes in the first set.
These opportunities for offence from the Indian were few. As she tried to make the most of limited openings, Sindhu would pile on the errors. More often than not, it was Zhang who would find herself in place to capitalise on a weak shot by the Indian.
Uncertain while trading flat drives, Sindhu was far more confident when she was able to draw her opponent into a duel at the net. The second set saw Zhang, possibly a bit tired, come second best in a few exchanges. She had learned her lesson though and by the third set nearly every rally was built on a series of fast parallel pushes. The pace of the strokes clearly hustled Sindhu even as Zhang, not in the best of shape heading into the tournament, clearly appeared exhausted towards the end of the match. Sindhu seemed in turn to be feeding off the energy of the crowd who were anticipating a perfect end to the tournament.
They saw the Indian claw back from 19-17 down in the decider to holding a match point at 20-19. When it counted the most, Zhang would dig in deep and find three straight points. Sindhu faltered on a push to the net to first give up match point, while Zhang found a near perfect dribble to force a short lift from Sindhu that was duly smashed into a vacant court.
An hour and ten minutes after she stepped on the court, it was Zhang who would threw her racquet in triumph after a clear from Sindhu went long.
It was a twist in the script few might have expected. Yet as she sits on her flight to Singapore, with a trophy in her baggage, Zhang will be glad her underdog story had a fairy-tale finish.