WTT Star Contender: Tamil Nadu's Preyesh, Abhinandh enter men's doubles main draw

Tamil Nadu’s top two men’s players Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Preyesh Suresh delivered a masterclass on the second day of the qualifying rounds on Wednesday (March 26), cruising past US’s Tanish Pendse and Armaan Dalamal in straight games to seal their place in the main draw of WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025.

The duo established the upper hand early and raced into a lead that they would not relinquish across three games, winning 11-3, 11-4, 11-4.

Also read: Sharath Kama's last hurrah at WTT Star Contender

Abhinandh loses singles qualifier

WTT Star Contender boasts 600 ranking points for winners and a $275,000 prize purse, with top global paddlers in action.

In men’s singles qualifying, however, Abhinandh fell just short in a thrilling five-game battle against Italy’s John Oyebode 2-3. After taking the opening game, he pushed the third seed to the limit before bowing out. Hansini Mathan also came agonisingly close, winning the first and third games against second seed Syndrela Das in Women’s Singles before succumbing in the decider.

In the women’s doubles, local talent Nithya Mani teamed up with Gujarat’s Radhapriya Goel to outplay the young Indian duo of Jennifer Varghese and Divyanshi Bhowmick. However, it was the end of the road for Yashvini Sivasankar and Selena Selvakumar, who fell to the second-seeded Hong Kong duo of Kong Tsz Lam and Lee Hoi Man in straight games.

Ayhika-Ankur win

Meanwhile, Ayhika Mukherjee and Ankur Bhattacharjee twice rallied from a game down, with Ayhika’s sharp defence and Ankur’s blistering forehand winners proving decisive in a tense five-game victory.

Ankur later teamed up with Payas Jain in men’s doubles qualifying, stunning top seeds John Oyebode and Carlo Rossi of Italy 3-1.

Meanwhile, Olympic medallist Shin Yu-bin and Ryu Hanna powered into the main draw with a dominant win, while Taiwan’s Huang Yi-Hua and Huang Yi-Jie swept past Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani in straight games.

WTT Star Contender 2025 will commence with the main draw on Thursday across all five categories (Men's singles and doubles, Women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles).

Matches across all four tables will be streamed live on SonyLiv and WTT’s official YouTube channel.

Results (Qualifiers)

Men’s Singles (Round 3)

Abhinandh Pradhivadhi (IND) [13] lost to John Oyebode (ITA) [3] 2-3 (11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-7, 8-11)

Women’s Singles (Round 3)

Hansini Mathan (IND) [13] [WC] lost to Syndrela Das (IND) [2] 2-3 (11-5, 10-12, 14-12, 7-11, 6-11)

Men’s doubles (Round 1)

Abhinandh Pradhivadhi (IND)/Preyesh Suresh (IND) bt Tanish Pendse (USA)/Armaan Dalamal (USA) 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-4)

Women’s doubles (Round 1)

Nithya Mani (IND)/Radhapriya Goel (IND) bt Jennifer Varghese (IND)/Divyanshi Bhowmick (IND) 3-1 (11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6)

Yashini Sivasankar (IND)/Selena Selvakumar (IND) lost to Kong Tsz Lam (HKG)/Lee Hoi Man (HKG) [2] 0-3 (13-11, 5-11, 4-11)