WTT Star Contender: Ganghyeon stuns Ovtcharov; Jancarik dashes Sathiyan’s hopes

South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon ended German second seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s hopes in a thrilling men’s singles quarterfinal while Czechia’s Lubomir Jancarik routed India’s G. Sathiyan to reach his maiden WTT Star Contender semifinal at the TNPESU campus here on Saturday.

Later, third seed France’s 17-year-old Flavien Coton, leading 2-0, suffered a reverse in the third and fourth game before finding his rhythm to beat Swede’s Elias Ranefur.

However, the match that had the modest gathering on its feet was the one between Ovtcharov’s and Park. Quicker on his toes and taking the ball early, the Korean won in five games.

Having played two solid matches to beat Lim Jonghoon and Eduard Ionescu, Sathiyan was expected to put up a strong fight. It was not to be. The Czech was precise with his placements. He read Sathiyan’s serves really well, attacked with control, and won points consistently from close and back of the table.

The 38-year-old won the the first two games comfortably. In the third, Sathiyan, seeded 10, stepped up the accelerator, racing to a 9-7 lead. He even held a game point at 11-10, but Jancarik held his nerve to close out the match. It was his third victory over an Indian in the tournament.

The Coton-Ranefur decider was evenly poised at 9-9. At 10-9, Coton played a tight short ball that forced an error, and a long backhand from Ranefur sealed the Frenchman’s place in the last four.

Korea’s Oh Junsung, the men’s top seed, suffered an ankle injury while competing in the mixed doubles semifinals and had to be stretchered off. He will miss the rest of the competition and his quarterfinal opponent Thibault Poret received a walkover.

In the semifinals, Park will take on Jancarik while Coton meets his French teammate and doubles partner Poret.

The results: Singles: quarterfinals: Men: Flavien Coton (Fra) bt Elias Ranefur (Swe) 11-6, 11-4, 11-13, 7-11, 11-9; Lubomir Jancarik (Cze) bt G. Sathiyan 11-6, 11-8, 13-11; Park Ganghyeon (Kor) bt Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Ger) 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 14-12; Thibault Poret (Fra) w/o Oh Junsung (Kor).

Doubles: final: Coton & Poret (Fra) w/o Lim Jonghoon & Junsung (Kor).

Women: Singles: quarterfinals: Cheng I-Ching (Tpe) bt Peng Yu-Han (Tpe) 3-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-3; Sakura Yokoi (Jpn) bt Andreea Dragoman (Rou) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9; Satsuki Odo (Jpn) bt Hitomi Sato (Jpn) 11-8, 11-9, 11-5; Miu Hirano (Jpn) bt Eunhye Lee (Kor) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8.

Mixed doubles (semifinals): Eduard Ionescu & Bernadette Szocs (Rou) bt Oh Junsung (Kor) & Miyu Nagasaki (Jpn) 11-6, 6-11, 11-9 (conceded); Harmeet Desai & Yasashwini Ghorpade bt Payas Jain & Syndrela Das 11-9, 11-6, 11-9.