Photo : Harmeet DesaiIndian stars Harmeet, Sathiyan march into third round in Zargeb
Mumbai, May 5: Indian stars Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, both recorded convincing second round victories and successfully made it to the third round at the 2017 ITTF Challenge, Zagreb (Crotia) Open, according to information received, here, on Friday.
Harmeet, the man in form and who recently broke into the top 100 in the World rankings, easily got past his higher ranked opponent João Geraldo of Portugal in five games at 4-1. The Indian paddler from Gujarat who is currently ranked No. 95, his best ever rank so far, was confidence personified and was in total control in beating the Portuguese player ranked No 78 by a 11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-4 verdict. In the next round he will face Japan’s Yuto Kizukuri, ranked no.126, who came fresh off upsetting Nigerian star Quadri Aruna in straight games.
“I feel great and the flow seems to be good. I hope to carry this form to the next round and aim for another win. But I need to be well prepared as Kizukuri is in good shape, he defeated Aruna and he has a lot of confidence on his side. I will have to prepare well tactically for this match.” Harmeet said.
Meanwhile, Sathiyan showed solid determination and tremendous fighting qualities as he recovered from the loss of the opening two games to against Finland’s (FIN) but bounced back in style by winning the next form game in succession to complete a deserving 4-2 win. Sathiyan ranked No.125 as compared to Olah who is at No.85 came through winning the nail-bitting contest at 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 and set up a third round meeting with Jonathan Groth of Denmark.
Results – Men’s singles (2nd round): Harmeet Desai (IND) bt João Geraldo (POR) 4-1 (11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-4).
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) bt Benedek Olah (FIN) 4-2 (7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8).