HCL-SRFI Indian tour: Navaneeth Prabhu ousts Yash Fadte, Rathika Seelan falls in first round

Wild card entrant Prabhu defeated his compatriot Fadte to enter the men’s pre-quarterfinals while Rathika was defeated by unseeded Varvara Esina on Monday.

Navaneeth Prabhu (blue) defeated Yash Fadte in the men's first round match of the PSA Challenger Tour squash tournament in Chennai on Monday.

Varvara Esina of Russia, unseeded, put it across Rathika Seelan of India (seeded 9/16) 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4 in a women’s first round match of the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour PSA Challenger squash tournament at ISA courts here on Monday.

Trailing by a game (1-2), Rathika was cruising along 8-3 in the fourth before the Russian closed in at 8-9. The Indian, however, closed out the game at 11-9. In the decider, Varvara kept attacking from the backcourt to take a 6-2 lead and she never looked back. Varvara will take on Egypt’s Rana Ismail, seeded seventh, in the round of 16.

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In another upset of sorts, wild card entrant Navaneeth Prabhu of India defeated compatriot Yash Fadte (9/16) 11-9, 9-11,11-5, 11-5 to progress to the men’s pre-quarterfinals. Prabhu will clash with Mazen Gamal of Egypt, the fifth seed.

The tournament began on the right note after Covid-19 tests on players and support staff on Monday turned out to be negative.

The results (first round, Indians unless otherwise mentioned):