Ayhika-Ankur duo battles into main draw at WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 27 : Pairing up for Mixed Doubles, Asian Games medallist Ayhika Mukherjee and reigning three-time National Youth Champion Ankur Bhattacharjee sealed their place in the main draw of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025, overcoming Anirban Ghosh and Swastika Ghosh in a thrilling five-game battle on Day 2 of Qualifying.
Twice rallying from a game down, Ayhika and Ankur fought back with the former's sharp defense and the latter's blistering forehand winners, sealing victory in a tense decider. Ankur later teamed up with Payas Jain in Men's Doubles Qualifying, stunning top seeds John Oyebode and Carlo Rossi of Italy 3-1 in the day's biggest upset.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Shin Yubin, a two-time Olympic medallist, and Ryu Hanna stormed into the main draw after a dominant victory in their Women's Doubles clash against India's Diya Brahmachary and Anjali Rohilla, while the Chinese Taipei duo of Huang Yi-Hua and Huang Yi-Jie proved too strong for Nashik pair Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani, securing a straight-games win.
Tamil Nadu's top two men's players, Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Preyesh Suresh, paired up and delivered a masterclass on Day 2 of Qualifying, cruising past the USA's Tanish Pendse and Armaan Dalamal in straight games. In Mixed Doubles, top-seeded Wildcard pair Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya also advanced comfortably with a commanding 3-0 win over Sarth Mishra and Sayali Wani.
In the men's Singles, top-seeded Niagol Stoyanov of Italy and Hong Kong's Ho Kwan Kit asserted their dominance in qualifying with straight-game victories over Priyanuj Bhattacharya and Agniv Gohain, respectively.
In the women's draw, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Poymantee Baisya, both Wildcards, battled through tough four-game encounters to advance, overcoming Nikhat Banu and Nandini Saha in hard-fought matches.