WTT Star Contender Goa: Manika, Sutirtha overcome higher-ranked opponents to make last-16

Panaji (Goa), March 2 In yet another day of upsets, Indian women paddlers Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee excelled for the hosts at the WTT Star Contender Goa, overcoming higher-ranked opponents to move into the last 16 stage.

The biggest upset of the day at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium here was however caused by 20-year-old Korean youngster Cho Daeseong, who ousted Chinese world number one in men's singles Fan Zhendong.

The day, as far as hosts India was concerned, belonged to the two women paddlers Manika and Sutirtha.

Manika, the India number one ousted Puerto Rican star and world number (WR) #14 Adriana Diaz 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8) in the evening session. Sutirtha, currently ranked 146, had earlier in the morning session, got the better of Jia Nan Yuan (wr 18) of France 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7).

In the pre-quarterfinals, Manika will be up against China's Qian Tianyi (wr #20) while Sutirtha will face yet another veteran Fu Yu (wr #19) of Portugal.

An exhausted Manika, whose defensive chops were too hot to handle for Adriana, said after the match, "I am really happy that I won today against Adriana Diaz. Let's see what happens in the next round. I have played her before and will have some strategies against her. I'll just give my best and I will just play my best game tomorrow for my country and for myself."

Sutirtha, whose impeccable timing and power on the forehand have been her strength in the tournament, also shared her thoughts after the match saying, "I feel absolutely great since I managed to beat a top 20 player. Tomorrow I'll be playing against Yu Fu and I am hoping that I will win against her as well. I had faced Yuan previously also and had conceded the match by a close margin. This time I didn't think much about the rankings and I just went with a mindset to play freely and that led me to this victory."

Meanwhile, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made a quarter-final exit, going down to Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami of Japan in three straight games (3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-6). They face the French pair of Emmanuel Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan in the semi-finals. The other mixed doubles semi-final will be yet another Japan-Korea affair.

Giant killer on the prowl
The biggest shock of day four came in the men's singles when giant-killing Korean southpaw Cho, came back from two games down to beat Fan 3-2 (7-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8) to move to the round of 16. He had on Wednesday got the better of Swede Mattias Falck (wr #36).

The second and third seeds in the men's singles, Japanese teenage livewire Tomokazu Harimoto (wr #4) and Swede Truls Moregard (wr #6) also made it to the last 16 with wins over Liang Yanning of China and Joao Geraldo of Portugal, respectively.

Hina Hayata crashes out
In another big upset in the women's singles, Japanese second seed Hina Hayata (wr #6) went down 1-3 (11-9,8-11,3-11,4-11), in her round of 32 match to Chinese Taipei's Cheng-I-Ching (wr #31). Top-seeded Chinese Wang Yidi (wr #4) though, was a comfortable 3-0 winner over yet another Japanese Miyu Nagasaki (wr #38).

A minor flutter was also caused by Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut (wr #35), who got the better of Jihee Jeon (wr #21) of Korea 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4). The third upset in the women's singles was caused by yet another Korean Choi Hyojoo (wr #50), who defeated Doo Hoi Kem (wr #9) of Honk Kong, China, 3-1 and will next meet Miu Hirano of Japan

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