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Achanta Sharath Kamal continued his dream run in his farewell tournament, the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025, on Friday (March 28).
The five-time Olympian was the epitome of class and confidence en route to a 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-9) win against Nicholas Lum of Australia in his men's singles round of 32 match.
Sharath will play his doubles partner, Snehit Suravajjula, in the next round of the men's singles. Sharath and Snehit bowed out in the semifinal of the men's doubles event at the WTT Star Contender Chennai.
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Sharath Kamal cruised to a 3-0 lead in the opening game before Nicholas Lum's serve was called by the umpire. Lum's power then enabled the Aussie to draw level at 3-3.
A curving smash enabled Sharath Kamal to take a 9-8 lead. There was no looking back for the Indian ace who took the opening game with ease, much to the frustration of the Aussie youngster.
Lum took an early lead in the second game, but a relaxed Sharath caught up at 5-5 before unleashing a powerful forehand to take a 9-8 lead yet again. A net cord helped Sharath get to game point before the relaxed and composed-looking Chennai player bagged the second game.
Lum took a timeout to reset his strategy with Sharath leading 5-2 in the third game, but the Commonwealth Games gold medalist carried the winning momentum right until the end.
Sharath then took the court for the men's doubles encounter, partnering Snehit Saravajulla. The duo stunned the higher-ranked and much-fancied India pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 14-12) in a match that went down to the wire.
The Indians then lost to the South Korean pair of Lim Jonghoon and An Jaehyun 1-3 (11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11) in the semifinals.
Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula fail to advance in women's singles at WTT Star Contender Chennai
India's Manika Batra, who had her match scheduled immediately after Sharath Kamal's singles game, had the crowd behind her right from the outset.
Manika came up with some splendid crosscourt forehands interspersed with chop blocks and used her fast black rubber to keep Huang Yu-Jie guessing in the WTT Star Contender Chennai women's singles game.
After losing the first two games, Manika Batra used her short backhand serves with the black rubber to good effect in the third game. The 29-year-old did well to take the third game and was very much in the fourth until a costly miss of a return of serve helped Huang reach game point with the score at 10-8.
A net cord gave the Indian a chance to close the gap, but a second unforced error from Manika allowed the Chinese Taipei player to bag the fourth game and the match 3-1 (11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9).
Sreeja Akula was defeated by compatriot Krittwika Roy 2-3 (6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 7-11) in the round of 32.
Manush Shah went down to South Korea's Lim Jonghoon 0-3 (9-11, 8-11, 7-11) in a men's singles round of 32 match at the WTT Star Contender Chennai.
Snehit Saravajulla stunned Yukiya Uda of Japan 3-2 (8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10) to earn the right to take on Sharath Kamal.
