Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna will battle a familiar opponent in South Korea’s Lee Sang Su in the second round of the men’s singles at the 2024 WTT Saudi Smash taking place in Jeddah.
Aruna stunned Indian legend Sharath Achanta 3-2 to progress while Sang Su also down Sweden’s Anton Kallberg by the same margin to advance to the round of 32.
Aruna was ahead of the Korean in their head-to-head having defeated the Asian star twice in their last two meetings and they will be ready for another showdown at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
Meanwhile, Aruna displayed tenacity and grittiness in his comeback win over Indian legend Achanta in the first round tie on Saturday, May 4.
Both players are familiar foes, and this panned out in their performance, which entertained the fans at King Abdullah Sports City after the Nigerian pulled off a comeback in the full-distance thriller against Achanta.
Twice, Aruna led 8-2 and 9-5 in the first two games but lost 8-11 and 11-13 to the experienced Indian.
It was as if Achanta was on the verge of another win over Aruna, but the unexpected happened as the Nigerian turned the tide in his favour to record a stunning 3-2 (8-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5, 13-11) win to progress to the second round of the men’s singles at the $2 million prize money tournament.
But the tense moment was when Aruna saved match points at 8-10, 9-10, and 10-11 before going on to convert his own match point opportunity at 12-11 to complete the great escape with a 13-11 win in the deciding fifth game.
Aruna, however, admitted that his tenacity paid off even when he was on the brink of defeat. “It was really, really difficult to come back from 0-2 down. I was 8-2 up in the first game and 9-5 up in the second set, but I lost both, so I almost gave up. But I told myself not to give up, and the spirit of never giving up made the difference. In the end, I was very happy to win.
“I knew it was going to be 50/50 today, Achanta is a good player and a legend. I have learnt a lot from him growing up. But I wasn’t intimidated. Thanks to all the fans who came to support me. They didn’t let me give up. They were the reason I kept on fighting, so I want to say thanks to all of them,” Aruna said.
Africa’s highest ranked player in the world, Omar Assar of Egypt, was not threatened by Singapore’s teenager Isaac Quek, as the three-time African Games champion beat the Asian youngster 3-1 (11-4, 12-10, 8-11, 15-13) to set up a second tie against Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura.