Harinder Pal, Velavan in semis of Parkview Open

Velavan Senthilkumar pulled off a huge upset, beating No.1 seed Aqeel Rehman of Austria 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 in 31 minutes. ( File photo)

Two Indian players — second seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and qualifier Velavan Senthilkumar — reached the semifinal of the Parkview Open 2017 squash tournament in Johannesburg today.

While Harinder had it easy against South Africa’s Gareth Naidoo, winning 11-7, 11-7, 11-5; Velavan pulled off a huge upset, beating No.1 seed Aqeel Rehman of Austria 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 in 31 minutes.

Having come through two qualifying rounds, Velavan, who won the British Junior Open earlier this year, looked in good touch and dismantled the top-seed without much fuss to set up a semifinal clash with No. 3 seed Mark Fuller of England.

His compatriot Harinder will meet Mohamed Elsherbini of Egypt in the last four, according to information received here.

Earlier in the opening round, Velavan Senthilkumar had put it across eighth-seed Tiago Goriely (Belgium) 11-1, 11-5, 11-3. Another Indian Guhan Senthilkumar had gone down to Aqeel Rehman 11-9, 11-1, 11-4 in the first round.