Dominant Sathiyan sails into quarterfinals at WTT Contender Zagreb
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran continued his dream run at the WTT Contender Zagreb as he won an easy encounter against a Chinese opponent to storm into the quarterfinals in Croatia.
Seasoned Indian paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran continued his stellar form at the WTT Contender Zagreb and scripted a straight-game victory over China's Chen Yuanyu, 3-0 to storm into the quarterfinals of the event in Croatia.
En route to the quarterfinals, the World No. 34 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran went all guns blazing against World No. 6 Jorgic Darko of Slovenia, the reigning European champion and humbled him, 3-1 to book his date with Chen in the Round of 16 clash.
Up against the lower-ranked Chen, Sathiyan attacked strongly and didn't have to face too much of pressure points and won the encounter, 9-11, 7-11, 10-12 to make it to the last eight.
Sathiyan will have a tricky challenge on his plate next as he will be up against the veteran Taiwanese paddler, Chuang Chih-yuan, the current World No. 18, for a place in the semi-finals. The 41-year-old is a legend of the sport and boasts of having been to the Olympics a whopping five times already.
Sathiyan will need to ensure that he can keep this form of his going and hope for an upset again against the former World No. 3 paddler.