The World Number 30 Manika Batra stunned the table tennis arena by defeating World Number 14 Bernadette Scoz from Romania, becoming the first ever Indian to reach the WTT quarterfinals in France.
A four-time Commonwealth medalist and an Olympian, Manika Batra, survived a 5 point defeat in the second set, winning the rest two later. On Friday, against Scoz, she saved two game points in the third game to keep herself ahead. finally sealing the tie in the next game, converting her second march point.
Manika won 3-1 (11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9) in 29 minutes against the eighth-seeded Scoz in a round-16 match. Nevertheless, Manika enjoys a safe lead against Scoz- 6-5.
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Manika Batra to face Tianyi
Manika Batra will play the quarterfinal on Saturday. There she will meet the World number 21 Qian Tianyi from China.
Tianyi reached the quarterfinal after defeating Wang Yidi by 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 13-11) in another R-16 match.
In the first round, Manika's first prey was USA's Lily Zhang, against whom she won in a straight set of 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 12-10)
The other Indian in queue in women's singles, Sreeja Akula, however, got defeated by World No. 13 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico. Diaz defeated Akula by 2-3 (11-6, 7-11, 1-11, 11-8, 8-11)