MUSCAT: Indian world number 99 Archana Girish Kamath and compatriot Sreeja Akula (World No 111) qualified to the last 32 round of the WTT Contender Muscat 2022 after impressive wins here on Tuesday.
At the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Archana, 21, outsmarted Olge Yilmaz of Turkey 3-1 (11-8, 5-11, 12-10,11-7) while Sreeja had a tough five-setter with Yang Huijing of China to prevail 3-11, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10.
World Youth champion Kuai Man of China ended the fine run of Andreea Dragoman of Romania to progress. Kuai,16, was clinical in her straight-set win 11-6, 11-3, 11-7.
Minhyung Jee of Australia qualified with a close-fought 3-2 win over Huang Yu-jie of Chinese Taipei.
Adina Diaconu of Romania made it to the last 32 with a 3-1 victory over Simay Kulakceken of Turkey. Fan Siqi of China was also through with a 3-0 win over Huang Yi-Hua of Chinese Taipei.
Chen Yi battled past Qi Fei 3-2 in all-China qualifier and Shi Xunyao of China edged India’s Diya Parag Chitale 3-2 to make it to the main round. Chitale, ranked 272, had stunned World No 91 Natalia Partyka 3-0 of Poland in the last round.
Cifuentes out
In men’s section, World No 75 Horacio Cifuentes of Argentina suffered a straight-set defeat against 116th ranked Sun Wen of China.
Frenchman Vincent Picard continued his dream run with a close 3-2 win against China’s Cao Wei by 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6. The World No 891 had upset India’s Sanil Shetty 3-2 in the preliminary third round.
Yuan Licen of China booked last 32 spot with a 3-1 win over India’s Manav Vikash Thakkar, while 16-year-old Iulian Chirata giant-killing run was stopped by Qihao Zhou of China in emphatic fashion.
Antoine Hachard of France also advanced with a 3-1 defeat of Xiang Peng of China.
Tom Jarvis of England (World No 175) saw his fine campaign end with a 3-1 defeat against Xu Yingbin of China.
Also in last 32 were Chinese players Zhang Yudong and Liu Dignshuo who marched past French opponents Alexandre Cassin and Leo De Nodrest respectively with a 3-1 score in the fourth round.
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