Unseeded Akshaya storms into quarterfinals, stuns sixth seed Sanika Choudhari

City woman Akshaya Sri posted one of many greatest wins in her profession when she shocked sixth seed Sanika Choudhari of Maharashtra 11-8, 2-11, 8-11, 5-11 within the second spherical to enter the quarterfinals of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger Tour-10 squash which started at Indian Squash Academy in Chennai from Monday.
In the primary spherical, Akshaya, a twelfth customary scholar, conceded the primary recreation however rallied to defeat 9-16 seed Radhika Rathore of Daly College, Indore 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2. She is the one unseeded participant to enter the last-eight stage.
Top seeds Sunayna Kuruvilla, Tanvi Khanna, Sachika Balvani, Aparajitha Balamurukan, Urwashi Joshi, Janet Vidhi and Abhisheka Shannon took the appointed place with out a lot fuss. However, the fifth seed Urwashi of Mumbai was stretched by Rathika Suthanthira Seelan, one other metropolis woman, 5-11, 11-4, 11-5, 4-11, 10-12 which took 43 minutes.
“I am feeling better and better. We all lost one full season and more,” Akshaya informed indianexpress.com after her matches. “I never take any pressure during my matches. I try to enjoy my outings but I’m very confident and focussed. For the first time, we all began on equal footing. I’m facing all my rivals for the first time and I’ll be facing third seed Sachika Balvani in the quarterfinals also for the first time. Tomorrow I’ll try and play my level best,” stated the coed of Ewarts Matriculation, Chennai.
In the boys’s class, Abhay Singh, world No.116, has been seeded No. 1, adopted by former nationwide champion Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Aadit Zaveri, Abhishek Agarwal and Velavan Senthilkumar. Apart from the highest 5 seeds, Abhishek Pradhan, Rounak Yadav too have obtained first-round byes.
There have been no surprises within the males’s class aside from a minor upset when wild card entrant Kanhav Nanavati outplayed Rounak Yadav 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 within the second spherical to enter quarters.
The Challenger 10 stage occasion, for each women and men, is restricted to home gamers as a result of Covid-19 pandemic and presents prize cash of $12,000.
Apart from the Chennai leg of the Challenger Tour, PSA is organising ‘domestic’ occasions at Surrey, England (TWC Squash Squared Open & restricted for gamers within the UK), Cairo International Stadium (CIB Egyptian Challenger Tour), Pink Power in Stuttgart, Germany (Schraglage Squash Open, open to gamers in Europe) and at Islamabad, Pakistan (PSF-COMBAXX Sports Squash Championship).
Players from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been eligible however none gave entry.
MEN
Quarterfinal lineup: 2-Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu vs 5-Velavan Senthilkumar, Kanhav Nanavati bs
4-Abhishek Agarwal, 3-Aadit Zaveri vs 7-Rahul Baitha & 6-Abhishek Pradhan vs 1-Abhay Singh
Results
Round 2: 2-Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt Jaideep Sethi 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10, (WC) Kanhav Nanavati bt 8-Rounak Yadav 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; 5-Velavan Senthilkumar bt Tarun Mammen 11-2, 11-4, 11-6; 4-Abhishek Agarwal bt Jamal Sakib 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 6-Abhishek Pradhan bt Mohit Bhatt 11-7, 11-9, 11-8; 3-Aadit Zaveri bt Yuvraj Wadhwani 11-9, 11-4, 11-5; Navaneeth Prabhu misplaced to 1-Abhay Singh 12-10, 15-13, 11-6, 7-Rahul Baitha bt [WC] Suraj Chand 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 2-11, 11-8
Round 1: [WC] Yuvraj Wadhwani bt (9/16) Ravi Dixit 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-2; Mohit Bhatt bt Sumer Singh Ahluwalia 11-4, 11-6, 11-0; [WC] Kanhav Nanavati bt (9/16) Ranvijay Singh Sept. 11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; (9-16) Tarun Mammen bt (9/16) Raju Shingava Sept. 11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-1; (9-16) Jaideep Sethi bt Rishit Dunga 11-7, 11-7, 11-2; [WC] Navaneeth Prabhu bt Vaibhav Chauhan 11-5, 11-4, 11- 3; (9/16) Jamal Sakib bt (9/16) Naresh Shingva 11-3, 11-5, 11-2; [WC] Suraj Chand bt R Sreekartikeyan 11-4, 11-7, 11-2;
WOMEN
Quarterfinal lineup (all matches in glass court docket from 10 am): 1-Sunayna Kuruvilla vs 5-Urwashi Joshi, Akshaya Sri vs 3-Sachika Balvani, 4-Aparajitha Balamurukan vs 8-Abhisheka Shannon & 7-Janet Vidhi vs 2-Tanvi Khanna
Results
Rd 2: 1-Sunayna bt Shameena Riaz 11-3, 11-4, 11-3; 6-Sanika Choudhari misplaced to Akshaya Sri 11-8, 2-11, 8-11, 5-11; Rathika Suthanthira Seelan misplaced to 5-Urwashi 5-11, 11-4, 11-5, 4-11, 10-12; 4-Aparajitha bt Navya Gupta 11-2, 11-4, 11-3; 7-Janet bt Sunita Patel 11-6, 11-9, 2-11, 11-5; 3-Sachika bt (9-16) Aaradhana Kasturiraj 11-6, 11-2, 11-1; 2-Tanvi bt Pooja Arthi R 11-4, 11-7, 11-5; 8-Abhisheka bt Anjali Semwal 12-10, 12-10, 11-9 (28m);
Rd 1: Shameena bt (9-16) Saniya Jaggi 11-8, 7-2 retired; Sunita bt (9/16) Aishwaria Payyan 11-0, 11-6, 11-8; (9-16) Aaradhana bt [WC] Ananya Narayanan 11-9, 11-1, 11-3; Pooja Arthi R bt [WC] Mithali Surana 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Akshaya Sri bt (9-16) Radhika Rathore 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2; Anjali bt (9/16) Skandha Dogra 11-8, 11-5, 11-9; Navya bt (9/16) Tiana Parasrampuria 13-11, 4-11, 0-11, 13-11, 11-6.