Chennai, Feb 13 (IANS) Snehit Suravajjula saved six match points in the decider to upset 13th seed Mizuki Oikawa of Japan to reach the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University in Chennai 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 set up a Round of 16 clash against top seed Oh Junsung in the event, co-hosted by Ultimate Table Tennis, Sharath Kamal Academy, and Stupa Sports AI with the support of SDAT.
Explaining what was going on in his mind during the business end of the fifth game, Snehit said, “I was just telling myself to focus on one point at a time and not think of the score as I made mistakes on the first two match points.”
The 25-year-old said he went into the match without much expectation, but the first two games he lost actually gave him the confidence that he could put up a fight. “I lost the first game 9-11, and I was struggling to believe that I could match his level. Then I lost the second game, which was also close, but that gave me confidence to win the next,” he added.
Earlier, the experienced men’s doubles combination of Sathiyan G. and Harmeet Desai upset the third-seeded French combination of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) to reach the semifinals. They will now face Korean second seeds Lim Jonghoon and Oh Junsung for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, wild card entrants Payas Jain and Syndrela Das upset top seeds Manush Shah and Diya Chitale 3-1 (12-10, 13-11, 10-12, 11-9) to reach the mixed doubles semifinals.
Earlier on Thursday, India’s top mixed doubles combination of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale, and youngster Ankur Bhattacharjee registered contrasting wins to advance.
Manush and Diya, who recently won the WTT Contender Muscat 2026, were pushed to the brink by the Korean qualifiers as they saved three match points before the home favourites emerged victorious 3-2 (10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10) in 42 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the event.
Later in the day, qualifier Ankur sent Frenchman Florian Bourrassaud packing with a 3-1 (11-5, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9) win. He will now face the 14th seed Kazuhiro Yoshimura of Japan in the second round.
–IANS
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