Top seed Abhay Singh and seventh seed Tanvi Khanna kept Indian hopes alive by securing their final berths in the men’s and women’s sections of the HCL PSA Challenger squash tournament at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Tuesday.
Both the players were on top of their game, and did not drop a game to their opponents.
Abhay toyed with Matthew Lal of Hong Kong, even though the score of 11-4, 11-6, 11-8, may not suggest so. Lai was strongly built and had an explosive game, but Abhay was far too seasoned to let the power game trouble him.
In the final, Abhay will be challenged by second seed Yassin Elshafei of Egypt, who had to step up his game to quell the energetic play of the towering Tomotaka Endo of Japan in four games. With a little more intensity and concentration, the Japanese could have taken the match into the fifth game, but there was no doubt that Yassin was easily the better player with his crafty game.
Tanvi Khanna beat Nour Ramy of Egypt 11-5, 11-9, 11-5, stepping up her game whenever needed to make it a straightforward affair.
In the final, Tanvi will be up against top seed Amina Orfi of Egypt who sailed past compatriot Menna Walid for the loss of 13 points. The 15-year-old Amina, the world No. 1 junior had beaten Tanvi in a tight contest the last time the two met in the Challenger in Jodhpur in November, on way to the title.
It should be interesting to see how Tanvi, quite at home in her new training base in the Capital, finds a way past the talented Egyptian.
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