PSA Challenger Tour Day 1: Delhi girl Anahat Singh enters quarterfinals
September 5, 2021, Greater Noida
Unseeded Anahat Singh of Delhi, a former junior British Open champion and national junior champion, became the first day’s toast of the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour – Delhi, a PSA Challenger Tour, which began at Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida on Saturday.
In the morning she scored facile win over 9/16 Pooja Arthi R 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 in the opening match and returned in the evening to upset seventh seeded Rathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 for a place in the quarterfinals.
The 13-year-old junior No.1, who spent 42 minutes for the two matches, will meet top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla, 22, for the first time in her career.
Two Maharashtra players and both 9/16 seeds Tiana Parasrampuria and Anjali Semwal stunned seeded players in the early rounds and will square off in the women’s last-eight stage on Sunday afternoon.
Tiana who got a bye in the first round, packed off fourth seeded Aishwarya Khubchandani 9-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9 which lasted 33 minutes. Meanwhile Anjali stunned fifth seed Janet Vidhi 11-8, 11-8, 11-1 while booking a quarterfinal berth before she outlasted Sonya Bajaj of Singapore 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 in the first round.
Top seeds Sunayna and Tanvi Khanna, the winner of Chennai leg last week who climbed 74 places from 185 to 111 in the latest world ranking, third seed Urwashi Joshi, and sixth seed Abhisheka Shannon took their appointed places in quarterfinals.
In men’s category, No.3 seed Velavan Senthilkumar, the champion of the Chennai leg, who rose to 86 from 98 in world ranking last week, joined top seeds Abhishek Agarwal, Aadit Zaveri, Abhishek Pradhan Sandeep Ramachandran and Rahul Baitha in the quarterfinals. Jaideep Sethi caused a minor upset when he ousted seventh-seeded Rounak Yadav 13-11, 11-9, 11-7 while eight seeded Ravi Dixit conceded his match.
The women’s event will have a $6,000 prize, while the men’s event will have $3,000.
WOMEN Quarterfinal lineup (from 3pm): 1-Sunayna Kuruvilla vs Anahat Singh, 6-Abhisheka Shannon vs 3-Urwashi Joshi; Tiana Parasrampuria vs Anjali Semwal; Akshaya Sri vs 2-Tanvi Khanna.
Results Rd 2: Anjali Semwal bt 5-Janet Vidhi 11-8, 11-8, 11-1; Anahat Singh bt 7-Rathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-8, 11-8, 11-7; 1-Sunayna Kuruvilla bt Sunita Patel 11-7, 11-3, 11-3; 6-Abhisheka Shannon bt Radhika Rathore 11-4, 11-9, 12-10; 3-Urwashi Joshi bt Shameena Riaz 11-4, 11-4, 11-5; Akshaya Sri bt 8-Aaradhana Kasturiraj 11-3, 11-9, 11-3; 2-Tanvi Khanna bt Mithali Surana 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Tiana Parasrampuria bt 4-Aishwarya Khubchandani 9-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9;
Rd 1: Anjali Semwal bt Sonya Bajaj (Singapore) 11-4, 11-6, 11-3; Anahat Singh bt 9/11-Pooja Arthi R 11-7, 11-8, 11-8; Sunita Patel bt Avishi Sahoo 11-1, 11-1, 11-0; Radhika Rathore bt Khushi Puranik 11-8, 11-5, 11-2; Akshaya Sri bt Gurlin Kaur 11-3, 11-2, 11-2; Mithali Surana bt Navya Gupta 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12
MEN Quarterfinal lineup: 1-Abhishek Agarwal vs 5-Sandeep Ramachandran; Jaideep Sethi vs 4-Abhishek Pradhan; 2-Velavan Senthilkumar vs Navaneeth Prabhu, 2-Aadit Zaveri vs Rahul Baitha
Results Rd 2: 3-Velavan bt. Vaibhav Chauhan 11-2, 11-2, 11-6; Navaneeth Prabhu bt 8-Ravi Dixit 11-9, 8-3 retired; 1-Abhishek Agarwal bt Mohit Bhatt 12-10, 11-1, 12-14, 11-5 (43m), 5-Sandeep Ramachandran bt Kanhav Nanavati 11-6, 11-5, 11-8; Jaideep Sethi bt 7-Rounak Yadav 13-11, 11-9, 11-7; 4-Abhishek Pradhan bt Tarun Mammen 11-3, 11-9, 11-7; 2-Aadit Zaveri bt WC-Arin Khot 11-2, 11-8, 11-4;
Rd 1: Navaneeth Prabhu bt Pardeep Malik 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; Vaibhav Chauhan bt WC-Divit Devanand Poojary 11-5, 11-4, 11-5; Mohit Bhatt bt WC-Arihant KS 11-2, 11-2, 11-6; Kanhav Nanavati bt Sumer Singh Ahluwalia 11-3, 11-4, 11-4; Jaideep Sethi bt Rahul Kumar 11-3, 11-1, 11-5; Tarun Mammen bt Rishit Dunga 11-6, 11-4, 11-2; Jamal Sakib bt WC-Yuvraj Wadhwani 11-9, 11-5, 11-8; WC-Arin Khot bt Adithya Sriram R 11-6, 11-9, 11-1.
