Borgar Haug (Photo WTT)
World No.151 Borgar Haug came back from two games to beat Manav Thakkar 13-15, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 in the Round of 16 at WTT Contender Istanbul, recording only his third win on the WTT Series.
Before coming to Istanbul, 24-year-old Haug had made the Main Draw only once in 25 WTT Series attempts, beating Koen Pang in the Round of 64 after defeating two Thai players in the qualifying rounds at WTT Star Contender Bangkok 2024.
Manav, on the other hand, is the World No.47 and No.6 seed at Ata Sporları Merkezi, but struggled to take the opening game, as the Norwegian saved six Game Points before falling behind.
In Game Two, Haug, the first Norwegian to win a WTT Series Main Draw match, again caused Manav problems, coming back from 6-9 down before dropping Game Point and going 2-0 down.
That was as tricky as it got for qualifier Haug, who only fell behind once across Games Three and Four as he levelled the match. In the decider, he trailed 0-2 and 2-3 but scored eight from 11 points to set up Match Point and confirm a historic win for him and his nation.
Haug will now play World No.143 Ricardo Walther in the quarterfinals, who also recorded an upset, beating four-time WTT Grand Smash Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles finalist Huang Youzheng in straight games 11-9, 12-10, 11-4.
Walther could have easily lost this one, as he was denied four Game Points in the opener and saved one of World No.60’s in the second. The third game, however, was almost as one-sided as they get, with the 35-year-old and former World No.27 hitting eight from a possible 10 winners to take the match in 22 minutes.
Three qualifiers in the Men’s Singles event are now in the quarterfinals after Kang Dongsoo emerged victorious from his match over Nikita Artemenko, winning 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4.
In the Women’s Singles Main Draw, two seeded players were eliminated on the second day of Main Draw action in Istanbul, with China’s Zong Geman taking down No.3 seed Miyu Nagasaki 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, and Saki Shibata beating No.8 seed Qin Yuxuan 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-3.
