Mumbai
Top seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra, playing her first game of the tournament, overcame a shaky start to defeat unseeded Amita Gondi of Telangana 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 and advance to the quarterfinals of the 44th Maharashtra State Senior Open Squash Tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana Squash Courts on Sunday.
2nd seed Tanvi Khanna of Delhi outplayed unseeded Subhadra Sony 11-1, 11-0, 11-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Nikita Agarwal of Maharashtra, who is seeded in the [5/8] bracket was made to work hard for her win against unseeded state-mate Aakanksha Yadav. After losing the first 2 games tamely, Aakanksha raised her game to take the next two games and level the scores. Nikita managed to pull herself back to take the last game 11-5 and the match 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5 to advance to the quarter-finals.
In the Men’s Open, sponsored by JSW, Raheja Corp, Shoppers Stop, Indospace Logistics, Junior Yash Fadte and Rahul Baitha soldiered on to make it to the quarterfinals. While Yash Fadte made short work of an unseeded Parth Bhatia, Rahul Baitha upset an higher-ranked Ranjit Singh of Services defeating 1-1, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9 to advance to the quarters. Top seeds Mahesh Mangaonkar and Abhishek Pradhan remain strong contenders for the title as they notched straight games wins to blaze into the quarters.
Women’s Open Pre-Quarters:
Urwashi Joshi [1] bt Amita Gondi 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4; Yoshna Singh [5/8] bt Prapti Salunkhe 11-3, 11-7, 11-3; Aakanksha Rao [5/8] bt Sano Singhi 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 Sachika Balvani [3/4] bt Anannya Morey 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5; Radhika Rathore [5/8] bt Bijali Darvada 11-5, 11-3, 11-2; Nikita Agarwal [5/8] bt Aakanksha Yadav 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5; Tanvi Khanna [2] bt Subhadra K Sony 11-1, 11-0, 11-0
Men’s Open Pre –Quarters:
Mahesh Mangaonkar [1] bt Anuj Unadkat [9/16] 11-5, 12-10, 11-2; Yash Fadte [5/8] bt Parth Bhatia 11-8,11-5, 11-4; Naveen Jangra [9/16] bt Abhinav Sinha [5/8] 11-6, 8-11 11-3, 11-8 ; Abhishek Agarwal [3/4] bt Aishwary Singh [9/16] 3-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8; Rahul Baitha [9/16] bt Ranjit Singh [5/8]11-1, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9; Gaurav Nandrajog [5/8] bt Sandeep Jangra [9/16] 11-8, 11-3, 5-11, 11-9; Abhishek Pradhan [2] bt Vaibhav Chauhan [17/32] 12-10, 11-1, 11-3; Abhay Singh [3/4] bt Siddharth Phutela [9/16] 11-2, 11-7, 11-5