Manika Batra stuns World No. 26; Sathiyan too wins at Hungarian Open

Manika Batra

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra notched up a stunning win over World No. 26 Chen Szu-Yu to enter the prequarterfinals 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. Sathiyan will also be in contention for a semi-final berth in men's doubles as he and his partner Achanta Sharath Kamal faces Hungary's World No. 132 Adam Szudi and World No. 142 Nandor Ecseki in the quarter-finals. Manika and Sharath Kamal, meanwhile, have got a walkover into the mixed doubles semi-finals and they will now take on the German combination of Patrick Franziska and Petrissa Solja.

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