In yet another day of upsets, Indian women paddlers Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee excelled for the hosts at the WTT Star Contender Goa, overcoming higher-ranked opponents to move into the last 16 stage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The biggest upset of the day at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium here was however caused by 20-year-old Korean youngster Cho Daeseong, who ousted Chinese world number one in men's singles Fan Zhendong.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The day, as far as hosts India was concerned, belonged to the two women paddlers Manika and Sutirtha.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Manika, the India number one ousted Puerto Rican star and world number (WR) #14 Adriana Diaz 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8) in the evening session. Sutirtha, currently ranked 146, had earlier in the morning session, got the better of Jia Nan Yuan (wr 18) of France 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the pre-quarterfinals, Manika will be up against China's Qian Tianyi (wr #20) while Sutirtha will face yet another veteran Fu Yu (wr #19) of Portugal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
An exhausted Manika, whose defensive chops were too hot to handle for Adriana, said after the match, "I am really happy that I won today against Adriana Diaz. Let's see what happens in the next round. I have played her before and will have some strategies against her. I'll just give my best and I will just play my best game tomorrow for my country and for myself."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sutirtha, whose impeccable timing and power on the forehand have been her strength in the tournament, also shared her thoughts after the match saying, "I feel absolutely great since I managed to beat a top 20 player. Tomorrow I'll be playing against Yu Fu and I am hoping that I will win against her as well. I had faced Yuan previously also and had conceded the match by a close margin. This time I didn't think much about the rankings and I just went with a mindset to play freely and that led me to this victory."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Meanwhile, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made a quarter-final exit, going down to Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami of Japan in three straight games (3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-6). They face the French pair of Emmanuel Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan in the semi-finals. The other mixed doubles semi-final will be yet another Japan-Korea affair.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Giant killer on the prowl<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The biggest shock of day four came in the men's singles when giant-killing Korean southpaw Cho, came back from two games down to beat Fan 3-2 (7-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8) to move to the round of 16. He had on Wednesday got the better of Swede Mattias Falck (wr #36).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The second and third seeds in the men's singles, Japanese teenage livewire Tomokazu Harimoto (wr #4) and Swede Truls Moregard (wr #6) also made it to the last 16 with wins over Liang Yanning of China and Joao Geraldo of Portugal, respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hina Hayata crashes out<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In another big upset in the women's singles, Japanese second seed Hina Hayata (wr #6) went down 1-3 (11-9,8-11,3-11,4-11), in her round of 32 match to Chinese Taipei's Cheng-I-Ching (wr #31). Top-seeded Chinese Wang Yidi (wr #4) though, was a comfortable 3-0 winner over yet another Japanese Miyu Nagasaki (wr #38).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A minor flutter was also caused by Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut (wr #35), who got the better of Jihee Jeon (wr #21) of Korea 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4). The third upset in the women's singles was caused by yet another Korean Choi Hyojoo (wr #50), who defeated Doo Hoi Kem (wr #9) of Honk Kong, China, 3-1 and will next meet Miu Hirano of Japan<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Six Chinese win in singles<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A minor flutter was also caused by Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut (wr #35), who got the better of Jihee Jeon (wr #21) of Korea 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4). The third upset in the women's singles was caused by yet another Korean Choi Hyojoo (wr #50), who defeated Doo Hoi Kem (wr #9) of Honk Kong, China, 3-1 and will next meet Miu Hirano of Japan<\/p>\r\n\r\n