Manika Batra stuns World No. 26; G Sathiyan too wins at Hungarian Open
February 22, 2020
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra notched up a stunning win over World No. 26 Chen Szu-Yu to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the 2020 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open here.
India No. 1 Gnanasekaran Sathiyan too made it to the pre-quarter-finals with a 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-2) drubbing of World No. 61 Noshad Alamiyan of Iran in men’s singles.
The 24-year-old Manika, who is placed at 67th in the ITTF world rankings, dug deep and held her nerves to edge out Chen 4-3 (9-11, 4-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12) in a dramatic match at the Olympic Hall here.
In a resilient display, the Indian qualifier fought back after being three games down and facing a match point in the fourth to win the next four games, leaving her much-fancied 11th seeded Chinese Taipei opponent shell-shocked.
Batra faces World No. 11 Hirano Miu next in her quest for a quarter-final berth.
World No. 30 Sathiyan, who was simply brilliant against Alamiyan, will take on World No. 5 Harimoto Tomokazu of Japan in his round of 16 match.
The Indian pairing of Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan upset top-seeds Kwan Kit Ho and Chun Ting Wong of Hong Kong to enter the men’s doubles final of the ITTF World Tour Hungary Open on Friday.
In a hard-fought five-setter, the Indian qualifiers won 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 4-11, 11-9 and earned a meeting with the second-seeded pair of Duda Benedikt and Franziska Patrick from Germany in the final to be held on Saturday.
The Germans defeated Poland’s Dyjas Jakub and Belgium’s Nuytinck Cedric 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3.
Later on Friday, Sharath and Manika Batra take on German duo of Patrick Franziska and Petrissa Solja in the mixed doubles semifinals.
