G. Sathiyan stole the spotlight in men’s singles, staging a heroic comeback against the same Romanian Ionescu. Trailing 1-2, the 10th seed roared back to win 3-2 (9-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5), booking a quarterfinal date with Lubomir Jancharik. The Czech player had earlier prevailed over Manush Shah 3-1 (11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11).

Sathiyan’s path featured a solid 3-1 triumph over Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon, while Manush Shah swept Park Gyu-hyun 3-0. Snehit Suravajjula fought valiantly but fell 3-1 to Korea’s top seed Oh Jun-seung, who later withdrew from his quarterfinal against Thibault Poret due to injury sustained in mixed doubles.

Women’s singles saw Nithya Mani, ranked 481st globally, pull off a miracle on Friday against Mizuki Oikawa, overcoming a 0-2 hole in a 52-minute epic 3-2 win. Her momentum fizzled against Cheng I-ching, losing 3-1 in the pre-quarters. With mixed doubles final and men’s quarters featuring Indians, the Chennai event underscores India’s rising table tennis stature on the world stage.