On the day that saw the domination by Chinese, Japanese and Korean paddlers with just one upset, two other Indian girls apart from Ayihika entered the second round.
The Indian girls provided a silver lining after three boys -- Sudhanshu Grover, Rohit Rajasekhar and Arjun Ghosh -- failed to make the next round after entering the main draw.
In fact, five out of six girls made the grade, including local girl, Karnam Spoorthy, who was the lucky-loser entrant.
However, T Reeth Rishya, who qualified from her group yesterday, failed to use the opportunity.
Kolkata's Ayihika, after being down 1-3, did the impossible as she recovered to beat a higher seeded opponent.
While she took the first game easily, losing the next three drained her out. But a pep talk by coach Kamalesh Mehta at the end of the fourth game did wonders to her.
From there on, the 15-year-old was a transformed person. The anti-rubber and forehand which provided a variety play to Ayhika put her on an advantageous position as her opponent struggled to gauge the spin and speed.
Ayihika went all over for the kill and kept her chances alive after taking the fifth game.
In the sixth, she kept her cool and won with a forehand winner. Then in the decider, the Indian was in complete command and slowed down cleverly to outwit the Hong Kong girl.
Ayihika will now take on Korea's Lee Dasom, who is ranked 24. But if only the Kolkatan can repeat what she did today, Dasom may face some real trouble. (MORE)
