Indian ace Manika Batra failed to progress through the first round of WTT Champions Frankfurt after a straight-game defeat against Annett Kaufmann in Germany on Wednesday.

These regular early exits on the WTT tour have now pushed her outside the top 50 in the world rankings, which can hamper her chances of playing such top-tier tournaments in the coming months.

Manika couldn’t find her rhythm throughout the match, scoring just 17 points across three games, losing 5-11, 5-11, 7-11 to the 19-year-old German player.

This was the third meeting between the two players, with the head-to-head record now in favour of the German player at 2-1, with Manika’s last win over Annett coming in 2023.

Also, Manika has now competed in 12 WTT Champions tournaments, where she has now her 10th first-round exit, having just one quarterfinal finish ever at this level.

Now, Manav Thakkar is the lone remaining participant for India at this tournament, who will take on fourth-seeded Felix Lebrun of France in his pre-quarterfinal match on Friday.

This will be the first meeting between the two players on the WTT Circuit, but they have played alongside each other at the club level in France.