Thursday’s decider match of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 was one to watch as the Indian top mixed doubles duo of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured their quarterfinal spot. With the win, the Indian pair will face their Indian compatriots and wild card entrants Payas Jain and Syndrela Das in the quarter-finals, making it an all-India clash. India’s campaign in the mixed doubles was a hit, but they faced disappointment in the men’s doubles and women’s singles events.
After the mixed doubles win, Diya added another victory in the women’s singles after defeating wild card player Anusha Kutumbale in three straight sets of 11-8, 12-10, 11-8, advancing to the second round match.
In the mixed doubles match, the top-seed Indian duo of Manush and Diya defeated the Korean Republic’s pair of Oh Seunghwan and Kim Seongjin by 3-2. The Indians pushed the Koreans deep down, winning three out of the sets by scores of 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 5-11, and 12-10. The match lasted for 42 minutes. Meanwhile, the duo of Payal and Syndrela defeated Kazakhstan’s Iskender Kharki and Sarvinoz Mirkadirova by straight sets in the first-round match by sets of 11-8, 11-6, 11-7.
Besides, fourth seeds Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade and the young duo of Ankur Bhattacharjee and Swastika Ghosh have also secured their quarterfinals berth, setting up another all-India battle. Harmeet and Yashaswini defeated Romania’s Darius Movileanu and Andreea Dragoman in straight sets by 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, while Ankur and Swastika beat Korea’s Park Gyuhyeon and Kim Nayeong in a hard-fought battle by 3-2 (11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9).
Besides the mixed doubles, Harmeet has also advanced in the men’s singles second round after securing the win over Romanian Iulian Chirita by sets of 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8.
While India excelled in the mixed doubles, it wasn’t a good result in other categories. The top-seed men’s doubles duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah were defeated by France’s Flavien Coton and Thibault Porey by 1-3 (12-1, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9). Meanwhile, in the women’s singles match, 15-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick made a decent effort but lost to WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner Ryu Hanna of Korea by sets of 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.
However, in other women’s singles, Snehit Suravajjula beat Divyansh Srivastava by a score of 3-2 and in sets of 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6. With the win, she is next headed to face 13th seed Mizuki Oikawa of Japan in the second-round clash.
