Favourites Saurav Ghosal and Joshana Chinappa fashioned comfortable wins to enter the semi-finals of the 62nd Senior National Squash Championship & 71st CCI-Western India Junior Open Tournament at the Cricket Club of India here today.
Chinappa lived up to her reputation with a 3-0 win over girls under-15 junior national champion Nikita Joshi of Maharashtra and led second seed Sachika Ingale of UP, third seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra and under-17 national runner-up Aakanksha Salunkhe of Goa into the semi-finals.
India No. 1 Ghosal tamed Vijay Kumar of Tamil Nadu 3-0 to set up a last-four clash with Ravi Dixit, while Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and India No. 2 Mahesh Mangaonkar will contest the other semi-final.
Dixit was stretched by Gaurav Nandrajog while dropping the second set and snatching a tight fourth by a whisker, while Harinder Pal halted Rishad Pandole of CCI with a 3-0 win and Mangaonkar rallied from the loss of the opening set to overcome Sandeep Jangra of the Services 3-1 following a close fourth set.
Results: Sr. Nat: Men (Quarter-finals): 1-Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Vijay Kumar (TN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Ravi Dixit (TN) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Del) 11-6, 2-11, 11-4, 11-9; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (TN) bt Rishad Pandole (Mah) 11-2, 11-6, 11-2; 2-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt Sandeep Jangra (Ser) 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.
Women (Quarter-finals): 1-Joshana Chinappa (TN) bt Nikita Joshi (Mah) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5; Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Adya Advani (Del) 3-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8; Urvashi Joshi (Mah) bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6; 2-Sachika Ingale (UP) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
Professional (Quarter-finals): 1-Parthiban Ayyappan (TN) bt Manish Chavan (Mah) 11-5, 11-2, 11-7; Sanjay Pawar (Mah) bt Sandeep Yadav (WB) 3-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4; B. Balamurugan (TN) bt Shakir Husain (Del) 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; 2-Paramit Singh (Del) bt Deepesh Borhade (Mah) 11-5, 11-4, 14-12.
CCI-Western India Junior Open: All Quarter-finals: U-9: Siddhant Rewari (Mah) bt Samar Gandhi (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-0; Raunak Phophaliya (Raj) bt Ekambir Singh (Mah) 11-2, 11-9, 11-4; 2-Aditya Chandani (Mah) bt Ayaan Vaziralli (Mah) 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8.
