Zhou Qihao (Photo WTT)
The main draw of WTT Star Contender Doha started with several upsets and five-game thrillers, with the pick of the bunch being World No. 36 Zhou Qihao’s tremendous comeback to knock out World No.33 Manav Thakkar 8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5.
Qihao, who advanced to the round of 16 at WTT Champions Doha 2026 last week, was dominated by Thakkar in the opening two games, with the Indian player hitting six consecutive winners in the second.
But Qihao was not ready to roll over, and started game three by building an 8-1 lead before. The fourth was a much tighter affair, and Qihaohad to recover from going down 6-8 to force the decider, which he took comfortably, leading from the start.
The first upset of the day came in one of the opening matches when French qualifier Leo De Nodrest knocked out Hong Kong, China’s Wong Chun Ting 17-15, 4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9.
It was a truly spirited performance from World No. 73 De Nodrest, as he came from behind five times and saved four game points in the opener. De Nodrest then recovered from a brutal second game thrashing to hit eight without reply in the third.
Chun Ting looked nervous when serving at 9-9 in game four and let a huge sigh of relief as he forced the final game. World No. 42 Chun Ting appeared to have won the match when he overturned a 6-3 deficit to lead 6-8, but De Nodrest hit five winners in a row on his way to winning it.
Chun Tingand De Nodrest last met at WTT Star Contender London 2025 in the round of 64, with the Hong Kong, China player winning 3-1.
Planted firmly on the backfoot following a relentless start to the match, Huang Youzheng found himself up against the ropes against qualifier Tiago Apolonia, who caused his Chinese counterpart all kinds of trouble early on.
With the opening two games going in Apolonia’s favour, the man who knocked Lim Jonghoon out of contention in qualifying now stood on the precipice of another upset.
But a late turnaround would force the denial as Youzheng cracked the code, making a crucial response in game three before building on that to complete the reversal 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9.
Speaking of leaving it late, Wen Ruibo was forced to dig deep in his opening round match as well. Failing to capitalise on his game point opportunity in the first, Wen soon found himself in hot water as the man standing opposite, Alvaro Robles, soon opened up a commanding two-game advantage.
However, just in the nick of time, Ruibo found a route back. He’d trail for just three points across the following three games, and come the conclusion of the fifth, it was he who left the table with a ticket to the second round, winning 11-13, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5.
Elsewhere, three of the top French hopefuls saw their aspirations crushed on Thursday night.
A WTT Star Contender runner-up last year in Chennai, Thibault Poret was handed a shock 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 11-5 loss at the hands of Vladimir Sidorenko, while Lilian Bardet and Flavien Coton lost out 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 to Park Gyuhyeon and 15-13, 13-11, 11-9 to Chen Junsong respectively.
And while that was going on, the men’s doubles top seed, An Jaehyun-Lim Jonghoon, were beaten in straight games by Xu Yingbin-Chen Junsong 11-8, 16-14, 11-9.
Yingbin-Junsong showed resilience throughout the match, first coming back from 2-7 down in the first game before saving four game points in the second. They put the nail in the coffin of any potential comeback by overturning an 8-9 score to win the match.
Yingbin comes to Doha as one half of the men’s doubles defending champion, having won the event with partner Xiang Peng last year.
Meanwhile, there was another big upset as Jang Woojin-Cho Daeseong defied the odds to stun No.4 seeds Lin Shidong-Liang Jingkun 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9.
In the women’s doubles draw, Indian qualifiers Manika Batra-Diya Chitale came close to an upset of their own, recovering from going two down to force a final game against Sakura Yokoi-Satsuki Odo before the Japanese team won it 12-10, 13-11, 13-15, 7-11, 11-1.
Batra and Chitale could not have come closer to going out in straight games before mounting their comeback, as the pair saved two Match Points in the third game.
And there were even more upsets, this time in the women’s singles event as World No.78 Mariam Alhodaby lost in straight games to wildcard Tatiana Kukulkova 12-10, 11-5, 11-7. That win means Kukulkova will face No.8 seed Adriana Diaz in the round of 32.
