Saudi Smash: Manika Batra storms into quarter-final, defeats world no 14

Star Indian paddler Manika Batra continued her dream run at the Saudi Smash 2024 and stormed into the quarterfinals of the tournament on Wednesday.

Manika defeated world number 14 Nina Mittelham of Germany in straight games 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-7) to enter the last eight.

Starting dominantly in the first game, Manika defeated Nina 11-6. In the second game, Nina tried to overcome but failed short in the last moments as Manika held her nerves to win 11-9.

Manika closed the match and booked her last-eight berth in the third game with an 11-7 win.

This is Manika’s first-ever win over Mittelham in four meetings. She will face world number five Hina Hayata of Japan for a place in the semifinals.

Manika will be eager to take on Hina Hayata after defeating two higher-ranked players. Earlier, she stunned world number two Wang Manyu of China in the second round.

Manika started her tournament with a 3-0 win over Romania’s Andreea Dragoman in the first round.

Manika had recently lost her status as the top-ranked Indian female to Sreeja Akula but the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist is set to become India No. 1 again following her run in Jeddah.

Manika remains India's only representation in the tournament as all the doubles pairs including Harmeet Desai- Yashaswini Ghorpade, Ayhika Mukherjee-Sutirtha Mukherjee, and Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah exited the tournament.