Indian qualifier Suthirta Mukherjee dug deep to upset Germany’s World No 58 Sabine Winter 4-3 while Manika Batra strolled to an easy win in the women’s singles first round of the ITTF World Championships at Budapest on Tuesday.
Batra beat Andrea Todorovic of Serbia 14-12, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, in the round of 64. Mukherjee, who is ranked 502, used strong backhand counters to win 8-11, 17-15, 11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 against the German.
However, Archana Kamath and Madhurika Patkar bowed out of the women singles race after making it to the round of 128.
In the men’s singles section, Achanta Sharath Kamal defeated Uzbekistan’s Zokhid Kenjaev 11-6, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 in a round of 128 match while G Sathiyan went past Robin Devos 11-5, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 at the same stage.
Batra, world No 56, was rusty in her opening game but picked up momentum to defeat her Serbian opponent. Batra will meet Chen Szu-Yu of Taipei in her next round.
Kamath, who played her third consecutive tough match, lost 11-8, 11-8, 19-17, 8-11, 6-11, 7-11, 4-11 to Egypt’s Dina Meshref after leading 3-0.
The energy-sapping third game, which Kamath won 19-17, took its toll as the Indian could not stop the marauding Egyptian.
Madhurika Patkar began well but failed to sustain against Austria’s Amelie Solja as the world No 65 downed the Indian 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11.
Earlier in the day, Batra combined well with Archana Kamath to beat Konstantina Paridi and Aikaterini Toliou of Greece 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 to enter women’s doubles round of 32, where they will take on Japan’s Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato.
However, the second Indian pair of Madhurika Patkar and Suthirtha Mukehrjee lost to the Canadian-Spanish combine of Mo Zhang and Maria Xiao 2-11, 11-6, 13-15, 8-11, 8-11 to bow out.
Among other doubles events, only the mixed pair of G Sathiyan and Archana Kamath entered pre-quarterfinals, beating Spaniards Alvaro Robles and Galia Dvorak 11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9.
However, the Kamal and Batra pair exited when the Indians lost tamely to the Polish pair of Marek Bodowski and Natalia Bajor 14-12, 6-11, 5-11, 6-11, 3-11.
In the men’s doubles, both Indian pairs – Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan as well as Amalraj and Manav Thakker – lost in the first round of the main draw.
Sathiyan and Kamal lost to Iran’s Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan 4-2 while Thakker and Amalraj went down to Singapore’s Clarence Zhe Yu Chew and Ethan Shao Feng Poh 4-1. Amalraj failed to make the main draw cut as he bowed out in the preliminary round to Tom Jarvis of England. The latter won the tough battle 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3.
