(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

Kanak Jha continued his march forward on Saturday at the WTT Champions Series event in Yokohama.   Kanak Jha defeated World No. 32 Simon Gauzy 3-1 in their Round of 32 match-up on Friday, and followed that up with an impressive 3-1 win over Kao Cheng-Jui.

By reaching the Quarters, Jha has secured 175 ranking points and $8500.  Those ranking points could push Jha up to No. 26 (or even 25), and he’s not done yet.  The winner of the Jha/Kao match was in line to face World No. 1 Lin Shidong, but a big 3-2 win by Dang Qiu earlier in the day now means that Jha will face World No. 13 Qiu on Sunday.

Head to head, Dang Qiu has gotten the better of Kanak Jha 4 of the 5 times that they played.  While Jha is winless in all five matchups, they did tie the last time they played.  The two had a 2-2 stale mate when they faced off in the qualifying round of the World Cup in April.

Lots of action still on tap for this weekend in Yokohama.

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