WTT Contender: Manika in singles quarters, in mixed doubles semis

 

WTT Contender: Manika in singles quarters, in mixed doubles semis

By Armstrong Vaz

 

Doha, Jan 19   India’s top-ranked women’s player Manika Batra move into the quarter-finals of the WTT Contender Doha 2023 with an impressive 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7) win over Joo Cheonhui here on Thursday.

The World No 36 Manika took just 24 minutes to register the emphatic over Korean counterpart ranked 129 on the ITTF computer.

Manika now will clash with another Korean Choi Hyojoo with a World No. 53 rank against her name, in the round of eight match on Friday evening.

In Thursday’s morning session, second-seeds Manika and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made it to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles defeating the Spanish pair of Maria Xiao and Alvaro Robles.

The Indian pair which had won their last meeting against the same combination at WTT Star Contender ESS 2022, but had lost on Qatari soil at WTT Star Contender Doha 2022, took 24 minutes to register a convincing 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-5) win and set up a last-four clash against Korean duo of Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin, which take place late on Thursday.

In the other semi-finals also on Thursday, Chinese pair of Kuai Man-Lin Shidong will take on Wong Chun Ting-Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong.

The Indian pair, which finished as runners-up at the 2022 WTT Doha Contender, held in January last year, are the highest-seeded partnership left in title contention following a shock opening day defeat for mixed doubles top seeds Jia Nan Yuan and Emmanuel Lebesson of France,

In the men’s singles round 16 match on Thursday night, Sharath Kamal Achanta lost 11-2, 11-1, 11-4 to Peng Xiang of China in the pre-quarter-finals match.

On Wednesday, Sathiyan, suffered a shocking 3-1 defeat at the hand of Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej, ranked 92 places below him in the world rankings, in the round of 32 match.

In the men's doubles category, the Chinese duo Yu Xiang and Zhou Kai qualified for the final by defeating their compatriots Yuan Lisen and Zhang Bang with a score (3-1) in the semi-final match.

The South Korean duo Ahn Geohoon and Cho Sangmin also reached the final after defeating their compatriots Lim Joon Hoon and Jung Woo Jin with a score (3-2) in the semi-final match and the final match will be held on Saturday.

As for the women's doubles category, the Chinese duo Zhang Ryu and Kyai Man qualified for the final match by defeating the South Korean duo Showa Hugo and Lee Zhiyun with a score (3-1) in the semi-finals.

The South Korean doubles, Shin Yoobin and Jeon Jihye, also reached the final, by overcoming the hurdle of the doubles consisting of Romanian Bernadette Zox and Australian Sofia Polcanova, with a score (3-1) in the semi-final match and will play in the final on Saturday.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals for men's and women's singles will be held Friday, with the final two matches taking place on Saturday.