Pradhan shocks Englishman Downer to enter semis

Mumbai's Abhishek Pradhan, seeded in the 5-8 bracket, shocked top seed Robert Downer of England in the men's quarter-finals of the 42nd Maharashtra State Open Squash tournament, being organised by the Bombay Gymkhana, here.
The 24-year-old Pradhan matched the power play of Downer (world rank 207) and engaged the 25-year-old Englishman in long rallies in the five-game affair before making it to the last four.
Pradhan, who lost to eventual champion Sourav Ghosal in the quarter-finals of the nationals recently, completed a deserving 11-5, 11-13, 11-1, 10-12, 11-4 win to advance to the semi-finals of the event being held under the aegis of SRFI and Maharashtra Squash Rackets Association.

Second seed Aditya Jagtap of Maharashtra, however, had things well in his control as he took his appointed place in the semi-finals. The 25-year-old eased past his young Goan opponent Yash Fadte in straight games at 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 in another quarter final.
On the other hand, seasoned Services player Sandeep Jangra, the joint 3-4 seed, was packed off by Maharashtra's Abhishek Agarwal in four games. Agarwal fought back well after dropping the first game to snatch a 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 win and enter the last four.
Delhi's Gaurav Nandrajog, the joint 3-4 seed completed the semi-final line-up. Nandrajog, after encounter initial resistance from Telengana's Ashray Ohri, found his form and raced to a 12-10, 11-1, 11-6 success.

The top two seeds in the women's competition, Sachika Ingale of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra's Urvashi Joshi, also marched into the semi-finals without facing significant resistance.
Top seed Sachika powered her way past Amruta Swami of Maharashtra, recording a convincing 11-0, 11-1, 11-2 win, while Urvashi defeated state rival Pranjali Sharma 11-6, 11-8, 11-4.
Other results: Women's quarter-finals: 3-4 Sachika Balvani beat Sarah Vethekar 11-3, 11-4, 11-8; Riya Sisodia beat Neha Dhuru 11-0, 11-0, 11-1.