WTT Contender Tunis 2021 | G Sathiyan and Manika Batra enter semis in mixed doubles
Indian table tennis player G Sathiyan has finally found form, as he made it to the semis of mixed doubles with Manika Batra and men's doubles with Harmeet Desai at the WTT Contender Tunis 2021. In singles too, Sathiyan is the lone Indian in quarters, while Manika and Sharath lost their matches.
The mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra advanced to the mixed doubles semi-finals at the WTT Contender Tunis 2021 on Thursday. The duo beat Prithika Pavade and Alexandre Cassin of France in the quarter-finals of the event. Despite trailing 2-1 at one stage, the Indian team managed to win (11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8).
It is noteworthy that the same pair had won the mixed doubles title at the WTT Contender Budapest back in August. Apart from that, Sathiyan also made it to the semis in men’s doubles with his partner Harmeet Desai, beating Patrik Juhasz and Bence Majoros of Hungary 3-1 (12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6). The other Indian team in the fray, Sharath Kamal and Manav Thakkar lost to Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi 3-1 (11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11).
As far as men's singles is concerned, Sathiyan is the lone surviving Indian there as well. Earlier, he had defeated Ibrahima Diaw of Senegal 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-9) in the round of 16. Meanwhile, Sharath and Manika Batra was ousted in the first round of their respective singles matches.