Sathiyan Gnanasekaran upset world number 17 and Asian Championships silver medallist Jeong Sanguen from Korea 4-2 to enter the main draw of the Austrian Open 2018 on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old, the lone Indian surviving in the men’s singles category, had to fight hard to earn victory at the Tips Linz Arena. Gnanasekaran was trailing after first two games but mounted a comeback to dump the Korean 6-11, 11-13, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6, 11-2.
After the win, the Indian took to Twitter and thanked his coach for the victory. “Stormed into the Main draw of the Austrian open 2018 after knocking out Asian Championship silver medalist & WR 17 Jeong Sanguen from Korea 4-2!! A special thanks to my coach Raman sir for pushing my limits and help me to achieve this huge milestone!!,” he wrote.
Earlier in the preliminary rounds, he had beaten China’s Youth Olympics champion Wang Chuqin 11-8, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7, 18-16. He also beat Slovakia’s 34-year-old Lubomir Pistej in the third round of preliminaries.
The world number 35 will now face Portugal Marcos Freitas in the first round of the main draw which will be a Round of 32 match on Thursday.
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