WTT Contender Doha 2024 Day 2 results: Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee only Indians to enter the semifinals, Manika Batra through to the last eight

The second day of the main draw matches at the Doha Contender 2024 was underway on Thursday, January 18.

The Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar, played host to the quarterfinal and pre-quarterfinal matches of the tournament. Fans were treated to some thrilling four and five-set encounters by India’s top paddlers.

However, Manika Batra, and the women's doubles pair of Ayhika Mukherjee, and Sutirtha Mukherjee were the only Indian paddlers to secure a quarterfinal and semifinal berth, respectively.

India’s most experienced player, Sharath Kamal, and youngsters, Archana Kamath, Diya Chitale, and Manush Shah, all lost their respective matches and brought an end to their journey in the USD 80,000 tournament.

A closer look at the results of the Indian paddlers at the Doha Contender 2024

In a closely-watched men's singles match, India's sole representative, Achanta Sharath Kamal, went down in a thrilling five-set battle against France’s Simon Gauzy. Despite a valiant effort, Kamal succumbed to Gauzy with a final score of 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, bringing his journey in the tournament to an end.

Unlike the men's singles category, the women's singles event witnessed India's veteran paddler Manika Batra end up on the right side of things. Batra took on France’s Audrey Zarif in her Round of 16 encounter. The Indian won the first set with a convincing 11-3 scoreline, but Zarif fought back, to level terms.

The third set saw Batra play some exquisite shots to secure the game 11-4. Taking the previous game's momentum into the next, she wrapped up the match after securing the game with an 11-6 scoreline. The final score of the match was 11-3, 7-11, 11-4, 11-6 in favor of the Indian.

In the mixed doubles category, the young Indian duo of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale went down to the second-seeded pair of Shin Yubin and Lee Jonghoon from South Korea in a four-set thriller.

Despite a promising start, where Manush and Diya took the first game 11-6, the Indian pair saw their Korean opponents find their rhythm and comfortably take the next three sets to wrap up the match. The final scoreline of the match was 11-6, 6-11, 3-11, 7-11 in favor of the Koreans.

The women’s doubles category brought the only other positive news for the Indian contingent, while Manika Batra and Archana Kamath went down to Germany’s Annett Kaufman and Sabine Winter in a four-set battle, with the final score of the match being 7-11, 2-11, 11-7, 4-11 in favor of the Germans.

Asian Games medalists Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee secured a place in the last four after a convincing 3-0 win against Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Yousra Helmy. They beat their Egyptian counterparts with a score of 11-4, 11-7, 11-6.

Ayhika and Sutirtha will now take on the top seeds from South Korea, Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin, in the semifinals on Friday, January 19, while Manika Batra will face off against South Korea's Shin Yubin in the quarterfinals of the women's singles category.