MUMBAI: Anahat Singh and Rathika Suthanthira Seelan won their respective quarterfinal matches to set a clash in the women’s semifinals of the JSW-Willingdon Little Masters and Senior Squash Open, at the Willingdon Sports Club, Worli. This 4-star tournament is being conducted in association with the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI).
The top seed Anahat defeated Sri Lanka’s unseeded Dewmini Gallage 11-3, 11-5, and 11-3, while fourth seed Rathika got the better of seventh seed Yeheni Kuruppu also from Sri Lanka by a 11-8, 11-3, 7-11, and 11-4 game scores.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Dev Sharma suffered a shock straight game defeat against joint third-fourth seed Udit Mishra in a boys’ under-17 semi-final. Mishra after winning a tense opening game over extra points comfortably won the next two to secure a 12-10, 11-5, and 11-1 win to book his place in the final.
Second-seeded Yusha Nafees hardly faced much of resistance from joint third-fourth seed Vedant Chheda and cruised to an 11-7, 11-5, and 11-2 win.
In the girls’ under-17 semi-finals, the top two seeds, Navya Sundararajan and Chhavi Saran stormed into the summit round. The number one seed Sundararajan defeated Eesha Shrivastava 11-3, 11-5, and 11-8, while second seed Saran fought hard to overcome Vyomika Khandelwal 11-9, 9-11, 11-2, 9-11, and 11-5 in five tough games.
Results (semifinals): Girls’ under-9: 1-Ariana Almoula W/o Karuna Nirgude; 2-Naina Anans bt Zaina Shah 11-2, 11-3, 11-1.