Snehit and Ronit pull off shock wins as seeds tumble
No. 7 seed SFR Snehit (IA&AD) overcame Ankur 3-1, while Ronit Bhanja (No. 11) outlasted Sathiyan by the same margin. Top seed and reigning national champion Manush Shah, however, stayed on course with a composed 3-1 victory over No. 8 Akash Pal (Railways).
Snehit combined smart game control with timely bursts of aggression, mixing his service variations effectively to keep Ankur on the backfoot despite some engaging long rallies. Ronit, meanwhile, capitalised on Sathiyan's inconsistency, patiently constructing points and exploiting errors. Sathiyan had narrowly scraped through his Round-of-32 clash against P.B. Abhinand earlier, but on this occasion lost his touch in crucial phases, allowing Ronit to pull away.
In the women's singles, top seed Diya Chitale (RBI) breezed past No. 8 Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 3-0 to set up a semifinal against Anusha Kutumbale (Railways), who battled past No. 4 Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-2. No. 3 seed Swastika Ghosh (Maharashtra) swept qualifier Prithoki Chakraborty (FCI) off her feet with a 3-0 triumph, while second seed Yashaswini Ghorpade was pushed to the distance before edging qualifier Divyanshi Bhowmick 3-2.
The men's pre-quarterfinals featured two gripping contests, while the rest went as expected, with the winners firmly in control. The clashes between Payas and Sudhanshu Grover, and Sathiyan and P.B. Abhinand both went the distance before Payas and Sathiyan booked their quarterfinal berths. After Payas drew level in the fourth game, he raced through the decider, leaving Sudhanshu struggling to keep up in a match filled with engaging rallies. For Abhinand, it was a near-miss—he failed toforce a deuce in the deciding game despite having an even chance, handing Sathiyan a lifeline and a place in the last eight.
In the women's pre-quarterfinals, all but three matches followed predictable scripts. Krittwika, Swastika, and Prithoki overcame early lapses to secure their spots in the quarters, while the rest advanced without fuss.
Unlike Krittwika's close battle with Jennifer Varghese, Swastika and Prithoki showed greater urgency in their final games. Swastika, already 2-0 up, closed out the contest swiftly against Kavya Bhatt, while Prithoki, after seeing Sneha Bhowmick level the score, held her nerve to finish the job. UNI PC GNK
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