Qualifier Swara Karmarkar reaches maiden WTT Feeder Chennai semifinal

Swara Karmarkar, a qualifier, reached her first women’s singles semifinal at the WTT Feeder Chennai at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University near Chennai on Saturday, defeating Suhana Saini in five games, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4.

The 16-year-old from Nashik, ranked 947 in the world, is coached by Jay Modak and attracted attention for her appearance in a loose-fitting jersey that belies her senior-level progress. Swara’s game features a hook serve that frequently yields easy points, an attacking forehand and a defensive long-pimpled rubber on her backhand, elements she used effectively in Chennai.

Swara converted those strengths into a quarterfinal victory over Suhana Saini to advance to the semifinals, where she will face second seed Yoo Yerin of South Korea. In the other women’s semifinal, Sutirtha Mukherjee will meet top seed Yang Ha Eun of South Korea.

Sutirtha Mukherjee reached her quarterfinal by beating Divyanshi Bhowmick 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, while Yang Ha Eun defeated Lee Haelin (Korea) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 to secure her place in the last four. Yoo Yerin advanced to the semifinals by beating Avisha Karmakar 11-5, 11-5, 11-2.

In the men’s quarterfinals, Manav Thakkar overcame Harmeet Desai 5-11, 11-4, 12-10, 13-11 and G. Sathiyan beat Yashansh Malik 11-3, 11-9, 11-3. SFR Snehit defeated Nikunj Attri 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, and Samuel Walker (Eng) edged Payas Jain 14-16, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9. The men’s semifinal pairings are G. Sathiyan versus Manav Thakkar and SFR Snehit versus Samuel Walker.

Earlier in the day there were several upsets: P.B. Abhinandh, who had beaten a fourth seed on Friday, lost to qualifier Nikunj Attri; Suhana Saini beat fourth seed Nithya Shree Mani in the women’s round of 16; and second seed Ankur Bhattacharjee, 19, was eliminated by Samuel Walker in the pre-quarterfinals.

In doubles and mixed doubles, Sathiyan & Harmeet Desai beat Sanil Shetty & Snehit 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-4 and Payas Jain & Priyanuj Bhattacharyya beat Ankur Bhattacharjee & Akash Pal 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 in the doubles semifinals. In mixed doubles semifinals, Mehan Senthil & Ananya Muralidharan beat Kwon Hyuk & Kim Seoyun (Korea) 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, while Manav Thakkar & Taneesha Kotecha beat Payas Jain & Sayali Wani 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-7.

The tournament moves into the semifinal stage with the confirmed singles matchups of Swara Karmarkar v Yoo Yerin and Sutirtha Mukherjee v Yang Ha Eun in the women’s draw, and G. Sathiyan v Manav Thakkar and SFR Snehit v Samuel Walker in the men’s draw.