Manika, Sreeja advance into final round of singles qualifiers

Doha, March 2

Star paddler Manika Batra and young Sreeja Akula moved to the final round of the women’s singles qualifiers at the WTT Contender here today.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika got the better of Romania’s Irina Ciobanu 11-7 15-13 11-8 and will face Ganna Gaponova of Ukraine in the last round.

Sreeja, the world No. 150 from Hyderabad, sent packing Thailand’s 87th-ranked Orawan Paranang packing 11-5 11-5 11-6 in the third round. She will now take on Russia’s Mariia Tailakova, who beat India’s Archana Kamath 14-12 11-8 11-8.

Earlier, in the final round matches of the mixed doubles qualifiers, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Sutirtha Mukherjee grabbed a spot in the main draw after an 11-5 11-7 11-5 straight-set victory against Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Melanie Diaz.

However, the country’s other mixed doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika lost. — PTI