WTT Star Contender 2026: Manush-Diya reach mixed doubles quarters

India's leading mixed doubles pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale and youngster Ankur Bhattacharjee registered contrasting wins to advance in the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 here on Thursday. Manush and Diya, who recently won the WTT Contender Muscat 2026, were pushed to the brink by Korean qualifiers as they saved three match points before emerging victorious 3-2 (10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10) in 42 minutes to reach the quarterfinals. Qualifier Ankur sent Frenchman Florian Bourrassaud packing with a 3-1 (11-5, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9) victory. He will face 14th seed Kazuhiro Yoshimura of Japan in the second round. Ankur also advanced to the mixed doubles quarterfinals alongside Swastika Ghosh after they defeated the Korean combination of Park Gyuhyeon and Kim Nayeong 3-2 (11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9). They will face fourth seeds Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade, who defeated Darius Movileanu and Andrea Dragoman of Romania 11-8, 11-4, 11-7. In the other quarterfinals, Manush and Diya will face Indian wild cards Payas Jain and Syndrela Das, who defeated Kazakhstan's Iskender Kharki and Sarvinoz Mirkadirova 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 in their first-round clash. Snehit Suravajjula fought back from a 1-2 deficit to beat Divyansh Srivastava 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6) to set up a second-round clash against Japanese 13th seed Mizuki Oikawa. Harmeet also advanced to the second round with a convincing 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8) win over Iulian Chirita of Romania. In the women's singles Round-of-64 clash, 15-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick put up a good fight against WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner Ryu Hanna of Korea but ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5) scoreline. Later in the day, Diya defeated wild card Anusha Kutumbale 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-8) to advance to the second round.