Tribune News Network
Doha
The main draw is officially up and running at WTT Star Contender Doha 2025, and it hasn’t taken long for the dramatic results to flood in, with multiple comeback efforts stealing the limelight on Wednesday.
Amongst the standout action from the day’s opening session was the match between World No.40 Maharu Yoshimura and World No.57 Kanak Jha, as the two players went toe-to-toe in a five-game epic.
Locking horns for the first time on the world stage, Jha couldn’t have asked for a better start to the contest, hitting through the ball with purpose to race into a commanding two-game lead. But Yoshimura wasn’t about to go down without a fight, and his response hit hard, upping the ante in games three and four before bouncing back from 6-8 in the decider to successfully flip the script (3-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10).
Following in Yoshimura’s footsteps, Tomas Polansky has extended his stay in Doha another day after staging a two-game comeback against Tomislav Pucar (7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7), setting up an exciting showdown with No.7 seed Xiang Peng.
Kim Nayeong faced an early setback in her opening Women’s Singles match, hitting a snag in game one against experienced penholder Xiaona Shan. But Kim would eventually crack the code, claiming three games on the spin to book her ticket to the round of 32 (11-13, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8).
The No.1 seeds in the Mixed Doubles draw also required a comeback of their own as Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting overturned a 1-2 scoreline to deny qualifiers Satsuki Odo and Maharu Yoshimura in a 3-2 thriller (10-12, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5).WTT Star Contender Doha 2025
