Manika Batra pushed Wang Yidi of China, the top seed and World No. 11, to the limit but the Chinese emerged stronger to triumph 11-7, 7-11, 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5 in the women’s singles semifinals of the World Table Tennis Contender on Saturday.
Playing against Wang, ranked 47 places higher, Manika put up a fantastic show, matching the top seed on all counts in the singles semifinals. Trailing by two games to three, Manika, seeded seventh, remained very much in the contest until 5-7 in the sixth, but after that Wang raced away.
Seventh-seeded Manika had upset Romania’s Bernadette Szocs, seeded third, 11-8, 4-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7 in the last-eight clash.
Earlier in the day, Manika and Archana Kamath played a brilliant fifth game to defeat China’s Liu Weishan and Wang Yidi 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8 to progress to the women’s doubles final. The Indian duo will face Melanie Diaz and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico in Sunday’s summit clash.
