Velavan Senthilkumar storms into final in US PSA event

A top Junior in the country, but now, a student in the US, Velavan Senthilkumar gave a glimpse of his immense talent by reaching the final of the Madison Open, a PSA World Tour event, here, on Saturday.

With studies keeping him tied up, Velavan has been occasional on the Pro Tour. Only last week, he had entered the Rochester Pro-Am PSA event but failed to cross the qualifying phase. Here too, he had come up the qualifying matches, regained the kind of touch that had propelled him high. Beating third seed, Bernat Jaume of Spain, in the first round, he got past sixth seed, Mark Fuller of England next, both in four games.

His semi-final victim was another Indian, Aditya Jagtap, in what was a come back from a game down effort. In 47 minutes, Velavan, a former ISA trainee, downed his countrymate, 6-11, 11-2,11-5, 11-4, to storm into the final. He is scheduled to meet Reuben Phillips of England in the title match.