Szocs, ranked eighth, lost to Batra in 29 minutes.
Manika Batra, a world-renowned Indian paddler, stunned Romanian world No. 14 Bernadette Szocs to advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals of the WTT Champions tournament in Montpellier, France. In Friday night’s round of 16 match, the world No. 30 Indian defeated the eighth-seeded Szocs 3-1 (11-9 6-11 13-11 11-9) in 29 minutes. A multiple Commonwealth Games medallist, Batra kept her lead in the third game by saving two game points. In the following game, she converted her second match point to seal the tie.
Batra currently leads Szocs 6–5 in their head-to-head record.
She had also triumphed against Szocs in India’s 3-2 victory over Romania in the Olympic pre-quarterfinals in Paris.
On Saturday, Batra will take on Qian Tianyi of China.
21st in the world In another round of 16, Qian defeated Wang Yidi, the top seed and a fellow countryman, 3-0 (11-7 11-9 13-11).
In the first round, Batra had defeated Lily Zhang of the USA 3-0 (11-4 11-8 12-10).World No. 13 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico defeated Sreeja Akula, the other Indian competing in the women’s singles, 2-3 (11-6, 7-11, 1-11, 11-8, 8-11) in the opening round.
