Chennai, February 11 Top Indian players aiming to reach the business end of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 will face a challenging task, as they were given a difficult draw on Wednesday.
Last year's semi-finalist, Manav Thakkar, experienced Sathiyan G, and WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner, Manush Shah, received a bye in the opening round.
Manav and Manush could potentially face each other in the round of 16 if they both clear the second round.
Tenth seed Sathiyan is also in the same quarter as Manav and Manush and could face his compatriot, Harmeet Desai, in the pre-quarterfinals if Desai can defeat eighth seed Eduard Ionescu of Romania in the second round.
Even Sathiyan's path to the Round of 16 is not guaranteed, as he is likely to face former world top-10 singles player and current world no.1 mixed doubles player, Lim Jonghoon of the Republic of Korea, who will be playing against a qualifier in his opening match.
If all four Indians make it to the pre-quarterfinals, India will be assured of at least one semi-final spot in men's singles.
The women's singles players face an even tougher draw, as they will be playing seeded players in the second round.
National champion Diya Chitale will open her campaign against WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 runner-up, Anusha Kutumbale, with sixth seed Hitomi Sato of Japan awaiting her in the second round.
Ayhika Mukherjee would face fourth seed Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei, and Yashaswini Ghorpade will meet second seed Miyu Nagasaki of Japan if both get past the qualifiers in the opening round.
WTT Youth Wild card Divyanshi Bhowmick will start her journey against WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner, Ryu Hanna of the Republic of Korea, and if she succeeds, 12th seed Saki Shibata of Japan will await her in the second round.
In the paired events, India's first mixed doubles combination to reach the WTT Finals qualifiers and top seeds, Manush and Diya, will have to defeat Korean qualifiers Oh Seunghwan and Kim Seongjin in the opening round to have a chance of reaching the final round.
Meanwhile, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Jash Modi, Sanil Shetty, and Mudit Dani in men's singles, along with 13-year-old Tanishka Kalbhairav, Suhana Saini, Neha Kumari, and Nithya Mani, were among the Indian players who qualified for the main draw.