CHENNAI: Paddler G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai clinched the men’s doubles title at the WTT Contender in Tunisia on Saturday. The duo defeated Frenchmen Emmanuel Lebesson and Alexandre Cassin 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6) in the final.
Both teams fought tooth-and-nail, but it was Sathiyan and Harmeet who clinched the opening game 11-9. The French pair brought parity to the proceedings by winning the second 4-11. However, Sathiyan and Harmeet were able to raise their game during crunch situations to win the third and fourth games 11-9, 11-6 to seal the deal.
“Once we won the third game 11-9, our confidence went up and we were to wrap things up in the fourth. Harmeet was in great form in the final and we were able to gel well together, and this title is a result of that,” Sathiyan told TOI. This is Sathiyan’s maiden men’s doubles title in ITTF Pro Tour events.
“I have made the (men’s doubles) finals on three occasions previously but wasn’t able to win them. It feels good to finally break the duck,” said Sathiyan.
He conceded that the semifinal win on Friday against seasoned Hungarian pair of Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi 3-2 gave them enormous self-belief.
“We were two games down and to have turned things around from there did wonders to our confidence,” said Sathiyan who now heads to the next leg of WTT Contender in Slovenia.
