Top seed Sachika Ingale of Uttar Pradesh had things much her own way as she sidelined Rewa Bharma of Maharashtra in straight games to progress to the quarter-final round of the women’s event of 42nd Maharashtra State Open Squash tournament, being organised by Bombay Gymkhana under aegis of SRFI and Maharashtra Squash Rackets Association. The tournament is being powered by JSW, while the associate sponsors for the event include Indospace, K Raheja Group, Shoppers Stop, Ellora Project Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Myntra, Cipla Imunno Booster and Nykaa.
Sara Vethekar
In a second round match, Ingale quickly got into her stride and completely dominated play against her young 15-year-old opponent Bharma, and went on to complete a 11-3, 11-5, 11-1 win, at the Bombay Gymkhana’s glass-back courts on Friday.
Meanwhile, second seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra had an easy passage to the last eight. Joshi who had a first round bye did not have to take to the court as she got a walkover from Dhwani Shah, who did not report for the match.
In one of the most exciting and well contested encounter, Pranjali Sharma of Maharashtra showed great resilience and fighting spirit as she rallied to put it across Mira Kamat of USA, winning five long drawn games at 13-15, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5.
In another match, 15-year-old Sarah Vethekar of Maharashtra was in a prime form and dropped just three points, all in the final game, as she outclassed Tarika Vohra 11-0, 11-0, 11-3.
In men’s action, the top two seeds Robert Downer from England and Aditya Jagtap of Maharashtra easily won their fourth round matches to sail into the quarter-finals. The number seed Downer tamed Services player Ashish Keskar posting a comfortable 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 win, while Jagtap outplayed Ranjit Singh of Uttar Pradesh, coasting to a 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 win.
Seasoned pro Sandeep Jangra of Services and Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi, the joint third-fourth seeds also booked their place in the last eight. In fourth round ties, Jangra not going flat out still managed to score over Aishwary Singh of Maharashtra, winning in four games at 11-4, 11-4, 12-14, 11-8. In contrast Nandrajog proved too good for Akhilesh Kumar Yadav of Services and romped to a 11-7, 11-2, 11-1 victory.
Results – Men’s – (4th round): 2-Aditya Jagtap bt Ranjit Singh 11-2, 11-4, 11-5; Yash Fadte bt Aadit Zaveri 12-10, 11-4, 11-2; Ashray Ohri bt Raunak Advani 11-4, 14-12, 11-1; 3/ 4-Gaurav Nandrajog bt Akhilesh Kumar Yadav 11-7, 11-2, 11-1; 3/ 4-Sandeep Jangra bt Aishwary Singh 11-4, 11-4, 12-14, 11-8; Abhishek Agarwal bt Sandeep Paswan 11-9, 11-7, 11-6; Abhishek Pradhan bt Aryan Parekh 11-6, 12-10, 14-12; 1-Robert Downer bt Ashish Keskar 11-5, 11-2, 11-2.
Women (2nd round): 1-Sachika Ingale Rewa Bharma 11-3, 11-5, 11-1; Amruta Swami w/o Oma Choudhary; Sarah Vethekar bt Tarika Vohra 11-0, 11-0, 11-3; 2-Urwashi Joshi w/o Dhwani Shah; Riya Sisodia bt Abhilasha Bhasin 11-6, 11-3, 11-0; Pranjali Sharma bt Mira Kamat 13-15, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5.
Men over 35 (2nd round): 2-Amitpal Kohli bt Gaurav Brar 11-6, 11-4, 11-8; 3/ 4-Jatin Bery bt Vikas Lath 11-3, 11-1, 11-4; 3/ 4-Karan Mirchandani bt Sanjay Gupta 11-3, 11-3, 11-6; Nikhil Bhandare bt Sanjeev Kumar 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; 1-Aditya Maheshwari bt Gourav Rakshit 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; Harjinder Singh bt Kurush Mistry 11-3, 11-6, 11-5.