Manika Batra caused an upset by defeating World No. 2 Wang Manyu to advance to the round of 16 at the Saudi Smash in Jeddah. Batra, now second-ranked among Indian females, won 3-1 against China’s Wang in a match lasting 37 minutes. She will now face Germany’s Nina Mittelham for a spot in the quarterfinals. Earlier, Batra started her campaign with a 3-0 victory over Romania’s Andreea Dragoman.
In mixed doubles, Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade surprised the 5th-seeded Spanish pair of Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao with a 3-2 win to reach the quarterfinals. They also won their opening-round match against Chile’s Nicolas Burgos and Paulina Vega.