WTT Contender Tunis 2023: India's Sutirtha, Ayhika Mukherjee crowned women's doubles champions

This is India's first WTT Contender title this season.

India's Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee created history by becoming the first Indians to win a WTT Contender title this season after becoming women's doubles champions at the WTT Contender Tunis 2023. The duo defeated Japanese second-seed Miyuu Kihara/Miwa Harimoto 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11) in one hour and thirty minutes to lift their maiden title in the WTT circuit.

En route to the final, the WR-36 Indian pair smashed the tournament's top-seeds Shin Yubin and Jeon Jihee of Korea in the Table Tennis semi-finals.

Sutirtha and Ayhika had a smooth start in the final winning the first two sets with ease. The former, in particular, stood out with her placements and positioning forcing the Japanese pair make mistakes. Kihara and Harimoto gave away few cheap points through unforced errors in the second helping the Indians get away with a 2-0 lead.

They, however, fought back well in the third, claiming the set and taking the match to the fourth set. It was all even stevens at 9-9 with both pairs winning points simultaneously in the fourth set. The Japanese somehow won a crucial point and were set to finish the set on a high with a game point in hand. The Indians though had other plans pushing the game forward and, in the end, converted their second match point into victory (13-11).

Earlier in the day, Miwa Harimoto won the women's singles title by getting better off Shin Yubin (4-2). A total of three Indian pairs made it to the semi-finals this week — Sathiyan/Manika in mixed doubles and Manav/Shah in men's doubles. Meanwhile, Harmeet Desai defeated WR-11 LIM Jonghoon in the opening encounter of men's singles and overall has defeated three top 30 players in the span of two weeks in the African leg.

Sutirtha/Ayhika's Performance at WTT Contender Tunis 2023

R1 - beat Amy Wang/Rachel Sung (11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4)

Quarter-finals - beat Chen Szu-Yu/Huang Yi-Hua (10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7)

Semi-finals - beat Shin Yubin/Jeon Jihee (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9)

Final - Miyu Kihara/Miwa Harimoto (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11)