WTT Contender: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula move to final round of women's singles qualifiers

Doha: Star paddler Manika Batra and young Sreeja Akula moved to the final round of the women’s singles qualifiers at the WTT Contender after wining their respective matches in Doha on Tuesday. World No 150 Sreeja prevailed over world number 74 Vega Paulina of Chile before the Hyderabad native sent 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 in the final round. Tailakova entered the last round with a 14-12, 11-8, 11-8 win over India’s Archana Kamath. Living up to her reputation, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika got the better of Romania’s Irina Ciobanu 11-7, 15-13, 11-8 comfortably in the third round of women’s singles qualifiers and will face Ganna Gaponova of Ukraine in the last round. Earlier in the final round matches of mixed doubles qualifiers, Indian pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Sutirtha Mukherjee grabbed a spot in the main draw after a 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 straight-sets victory against Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Melanie Diaz. However, the country’s other mixed doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Batra failed to take advantage of an early game lead and lost out to Russia’s Alexander Shibaev and Polina Mikhailova by a 11-9, 11-13, 11-13, 3-11 scoreline. Harmeet Desai also suffered a 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 2-11 defeat against Russia’s Alexander Shibaev in the third-round match of the men’s singles qualifiers.