WTT Star Contender Chennai: Desai-Ghorpade reach mixed doubles final, Sathiyan in men’s singles quarters

Chennai, Feb 14 (IANS) Fourth seeds Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade sealed their berth in the mixed doubles final with ease, while Sathiyan G. registered a hard-fought win to reach his first-ever men’s singles quarterfinals in the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University in Chennai on Saturday. 

Desai and Ghorpade were in total command in the all-Indian mixed doubles semifinal, beating wild card Payas Jain and Syndrela Das 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9).

They will now face second seeds Eduard Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs of Romania, who advanced after third seeds Oh Jun-sung of Korea and Miku Nagasaki of Japan conceded the match while trailing 1-2.

Earlier, Sathiyan kept Indian hopes alive in men’s singles as he fought back from a 1-2 deficit to beat Ionescu 3-2 (9-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5) to advance. He will now face Czechia’s Lubomir Jancarik, who got the better of India’s Manush Shah 3-1 (11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11).

Sathiyan, the 10th seed, advanced when he defeated the Korea Republic’s Lim Jong-hoon 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11). Compatriot Manush also made it, beating another Korean, Park Gyu-hyeon 11-6, 11-7, 11-9).

Meanwhile, Snehit Suravajjula’s giant-kill run came to an end when he went down 3-1 (11-6, 10-12, 15-13, 11-7) against top seed Oh Jun-sung. 

On Friday, Snehit first fought back from a 0-2 deficit to take the match in the decider and then displayed nerves of steel to convert his third match point to win 3-2 (9-11, 15-17, 11-4, 11-6, 18-16) in 52 minutes to upset Japanese 13th seed Mizuki Oikawa.

Korean Oh Jun-sung, however, has given a walkover to Frenchman Thibault Poret in the quarterfinals after he injured himself during the mixed doubles semifinals. 

India’s challenge in women’s singles also came to an end after qualifier Nithya Mani lost 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8) against Chinese Taipei’s fourth seed Cheng I-Ching in the pre-quarterfinals. Nithya, world no. 481, had on Friday upset 14th seed Jee of Australia 3-2 (10-12, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7) in the second round clash. 

--IANS

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