Chennai, Aug 24 (Squash news): Abhishek Pradhan and Velavan Senthilkumar sent the top two seeds in the men's section packing on a day of upsets at the HCL SRFI Indian Tour PSA Challenger domestic event at the Indian Squash Academy here on Tuesday.
While Pradhan ousted No.1 seed Abhay Singh in straight games in the men's quarterfinals, Senthilkumar advanced as the second-seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu retired during the first game. Also, seventh-seed Rahul Baitha got the better of third-seed Aadit Zaveri.
In the women's event, giant-killer Akshaya Sri, who toppled a few seeds on Monday, beat 3rd-seeded Sachika Balvani to confirm her semi-final berth with a straight-game win.
Akshaya will play top-seeded Sunanya Kuruvilla, who defeated Urwashi Joshi in four games, in the semifinals.
Also read: Indian Tour Squash tournament: Yuvraj Wadhwani pulls off upset win over Ravi Dixit
The other semi-final will be between No.2 seed Tanvi Khanna and 4th-seeded Aparajitha Balamurukan, who defeated Janet Vidhi and Abhisheka Shanon respectively in straight games.
Sixth-seeded Pradhan got past Abhay Singh in straight games with the top-seed appearing to be off-colour and failing to put up a fight. He now plays 7th seeded Rahul Baitha, who got the better of 3rd seeded Aadit Zaveri, in the semis.
In the other half of the draw, 4th-seeded Abhishek Agarwal comfortably defeated Kanhav Nanavati and comes up against 5th-seeded Senthilkumar, who only had to play 13 points before Sandhu quit due to a groin strain.
Results: Women's (Quarterfinals): Sunayna Kuruvilla (X1) beat Urwashi Joshi (X5) 17-15, 11-6, 11-13, 11-5; Akshaya Sri beat Sachika Balvani (X3) 11-9, 11-8, 11-2; Aparajitha Balamurukan (X4) beat Abhisheka Shannon (X8) 13-11, 11-7, 11-7; Tanvi Khanna (X2) beat Janet Vidhi (X7) 11-4, 11-4, 11-6.
Men's (Quarterfinals): Velavan Senthilkumar (X5) beat Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (X2) 9-4 retired; Abhishek Agarwal (X4) beat Kanhav Nanavati 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Rahul Baitha (X7) beat Aadit Zaveri (X3) 11-7, 11-6, 11-1; Abhishek Pradhan (X6) beat Abhay Singh (X1) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6.
News source: PTI
