Prithika Pavade vs Natalia Bajor | WS R32 | #WTTMacao 2026

For a lot of these top class players to get her, she's sort of bumbling back. She wants to try and set up her forehand as soon as possible and play it into the middle of her forehand of Bajor. You can see there the difference, Bajor's forehand is faster. And when you're talking about Ricardo, about to do it, she can change it last split second, do something different. This is where Pavard's really good away from the table, but... Pavard's backhand is way stronger, she can keep countering with compact strokes rather than blocking. Ooh, she missed it. We talked about the fact that Bajor was able against Chunxing Dong. That's right. Nice shovel, or will she do something maybe different, maybe long middle or long down the line? She plays a shovel serve instead. She just had to hold her ground, didn't she? Yeah, it's got to be a blinder if you're leaving that much space exposed. She is good back there, but the attack was relentless from Bajor, who's re-established control of this game now. Pavard went viral when she was a cadet for a remarkable... Not able to really get much success against the table hugger, Bajor. She's got the shots, hasn't she? She can be, so when she's not getting results, that's why, isn't it? That's what we're here for. Ooh, man, that's jamming. And so the first one goes the way of Natalia Bajor, and if you are Pavard and you are the tripler, it's a good receive. As long as Bajor is serving with a lot of spin, the more side Bajor puts on, the more topspin as well, the more Pavard has to come round. It's a lot of speed, you've got to be relaxed, that's the main thing. OK, that was encouraging from Pavard, that allows her to take control with the backhand from the middle, and the serve obviously helps that too. You mentioned tools just now. That's right. Then we've got Takahashi and Goda. Think back to Frankfurt last year. This has to be the best session of the event so far, right? Yeah. When you look at the match-ups. Well, we spoke about Kwaiman against Tanyu. Yeah, Tom Dzary, I'm excited to see how he gets on. Got to time it right. And she did. Changes to the forehand serve by the bunnyhop backhand as well. Normally it skids out as it lands shallow. Oh, here we go! Playing her shots, caressed one back. Seems to be a bit of a placement issue and a bit of a transition issue. There goes another one. Oh, that caught the edge of the table. So now she's got herself right back into this. And this success has come because she's decided to go. Another one goes wide, and just like that, it's suddenly... Ends in the net. I don't understand why Pavard is serving short and trying to construct points so much. Starting with short services, she's got to stretch the first ball. Bajor's blocking is so good, she's going to stretch Pavard straight away. If I was Pavard, I'd be float serving, I'd be looking to my own serve. And Bajor's good at using opponents to spin against them. The serving of Pavard is making no sense to me. There you go. Because she's varying the short serve so much, she's getting so many different balls back. That was well dealt with. And it blew that second game. She didn't have to earn the points like she did in the first game. So she'll know Pavard is crowding in. She doesn't want any kind of deja vu here. And then couldn't recover the block, the wide block. Pavard doesn't want to do the same. Again, seven game points for Pavard. There you go. Now, how much has that changed things? Keep varying it with the backhand serve. Slow spin with the backhand. Block, switch. She's a backhand player by all. Game and a half. She's really up to her game. This is what she wants. I mean, she misses that one there, Pavard. Make it hard for Bajor to chop the ball in half. Pavard's probably going to earn the first opportunity to drive. You see there, she slow spins. She was nowhere near that one. Pretty good quality, oh, and that's what she does. See that, she slow spun it. Again, Pavard's a little bit away from it. Clever serve. Oh, she's gone. She just leaves it so wide open and all you have to do is stand. Did well, mind you. She made that look easy by all. I'd be certain most of the time if I was Pavard. See if she recovers this block. No. Good there from Pavard's kick. There you go. With the kill shot. But again, hurried up wide. Makes it a guessing game for Pritika. And she's not far away now. She's come so close before against Zhang Yijun that this would mean the world to her. Not this time, Pritika. But that backhand was sumptuous. There it is again. We've seen it. That will be the defining. Chasing shadow. There's fight in the. Oh, the net. As we saw at the end of. The. Second game, it's a net that does it. And it meant that Pritika Pavard was unable.