Labosova seals spot in main draw

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Final main draw places up for grabs were decided on Tuesday, on the final day of the qualifying for WTT Star Contender at Lusail Sports Arena. Ema Labosova took her place in the women’s singles round of 64 after rising above the odds to take down higher-ranked opposition. Ranked 348th, Slovakia’s Labosova showed remarkable resilience in the early stages of her match against Singapore’s Goi Rui Xuan to beat the world number 192 in four games (12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6). Further down the draw, Ukraine’s Solomiya Brateyko negotiated a stern test to extend her stay in Doha. Brateyko was forced to dig deep against teenage counterpart Prithika Pavade, holding her nerve at 1-2 down to recover an impressive 3-2 victory over the ever-improving French star (11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9). Two of Slovenia’s bright young sparks Ana Tofant, 22, and Katarina Strazar, 20, met face-to-face as they fought over national pride and a ticket to the main draw. Come the close of five gruelling games, Strazar held the upper hand (11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9) to set up a round of 64 encounter with Austria’s Karoline Mischek. Brazil’s Eric Jouti was involved in one of the day’s outstanding comeback performances, securing his passage to the nen’s singles main draw in the process. Recovering from a slow start to beat Singapore’s Beh Kun Ting in the second qualifying round (10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5), Jouti overcame an even greater deficit one round later. Trailing Bastien Rembert 0-2, Jouti responded with three consecutive game wins to squeeze past his young French counterpart 3-2 (4-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 12-10). Alexandre Cassin was another up-and-coming French competitor who narrowly missed out in the final round of Men’s Qualifying Singles. The 22-year-old impressed early on with a convincing display against Singapore’s Clarence Chew (11-3, 11-5, 11-8). Unfortunately for French fans, Cassin ended up falling just short as Hong Kong, China’s Lam Siu Hang edged past Cassin in five games (5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10).