Neha Kumari (Photo WTT)
Syndrela Das, who entered the week as the top seed in women’s singles qualifying at the WTT Star Contender Chennai, succumbed to a shock second round exit, with Neha Kumari producing an inspired display winning the tie in 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 3-11, 11-8.
Following that effort up with another strong outing to beat Naisha Rewaskar, the world No.451, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7, Kumari takes her place in the main draw of a WTT Series event for the first time.
Elsewhere, the draw also saw two excellent comebacks. Nithya Mani pulled off a stunning turnaround, recovering from two games and two match points down to stage a reversal 5-11, 5-11, 14-12 11-6, 11-6 win over Hansini Mathan, while Shruti Amrute also recovered a 0-2 deficit to deny Ananya Muralidharan 16-18, 12-14, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6.
Showing he still very much has what it takes to compete at this level, 36-year-old Sanil Shetty confidently powered through the men’s singles qualifying rounds.
Following up his perfect start from the opening qualifying day, Shetty chalked up two more straight-game victories yesterday, brushing aside Harkunwar Singh 11-2, 11-6, 12-10 and Akash Gupta 11-4, 11-2, 11-5 to bank his spot in the round of 64.
The top two qualifying seeds delivered according to expectation, with Ankur Bhattacharjee and Mudit Dani navigating their matches in straight games.
However, there was a surprise early exit for No.3 qualifying seed Arnav Karnavar, who fell 5-11, 5-11, 10-12 at the hands of Swarnendu Chowdhury. Chowdhury would ultimately miss out himself, with Punit Biswas beating him 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9 to a main draw ticket.
