Manush Shah and Diya Chitale have entered the history books by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles team to reach the semifinals of a WTT Grand Smash. The fifth seeded pair achieved the feat at the China Smash in Beijing after defeating Romania’s Eduard Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs in straight games yesterday.

The Indian duo produced a strong quarterfinal performance to secure a 3 to 0 victory. They took the opening game 11 to 9 before edging out their opponents 13 to 11 in the second. Shah and Chitale then completed the win with an 11 to 3 result in the third game to book their place in the last four.

Manav Thakkar, meanwhile, could not progress in the men’s singles event. He was beaten 3 to 0 by France’s seventh seeded Alexis Lebrun in the round of 32.

In the women’s doubles competition, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade also saw their campaign come to an end in the round of 16. The Indian pair went down 3 to 2 against China’s Gao Yuxin and Xiang Junlin in a closely contested match.