Manika Batra-G Sathiyan mixed doubles pair in WTT Contender semifinals in Tunis
Manika Batra and G Sathiyan now face the Korean pair of Shin Yubin and Lim Jonghoon for a place in the final.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and G Sathiyan advanced to the semifinals of the WTT Contender tournament in Tunis after a straight-set win over German duo of Cedric Meissner and Yuan Wan on Friday. Batra-Sathiyan won 3-0 (11-8 11-3 11-8) in the quarter-final match that lasted a little over 21 minutes. They face the Korean pair of Shin Yubin and Lim Jonghoon for a place in the final.
Batra and Sathiyan had already made first round exits in the women's and men's singles respectively. In the men's singles, Harmeet Desai suffered a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Liang Yanning of China in the pre-quarterfinals on Friday.
Desai lost 5-11 6-11 5-11 in a Round of 16 match that lasted 20 minutes. His defeat brought the end of Indian challenge in the men's singles. Achanta Sarath Kamal and Sathiyan had exited from the tournament in the first round itself.
India's campaign also ended in the women's singles as Ayhika Mukherjee suffered an identical 0-3 (5-11 9-11 10-12) defeat to Miyu Nagasaki of Japan in the Round of 16. Batra, Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale had failed to go past the first round.
