Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) Top seed Velavan Senthilkumar made a winning start to his campaign, even while Om Semwal came up with a spirited performance but fell short in the end in the USD 15,000 SRFI PSA Challenger Tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club at their air-conditioned courts in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Senthilkumar hardly broke a sweat before accounting for Ayan Vaziralli 11-4, 11-9, 11-6. Fourth seed A Hafez and 7th seed Endo also advanced to the quarter-finals with straight game wins.

Semwal, who had knocked out the third seed in a five-game thriller on Tuesday, looked on course for another upset win over the 8th seed Ziad Ibrahim of Egypt. However, the 22-year-old from Jindal Vashind faltered a bit in the final stages, losing a close decider. Ibrahim prevailed 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.

Shameena Riaz also stumbled in the women’s quarters, losing to Japan’s 6th seed Akari Midorikawa in four games. Going into the match with a 1-1 record, the Japanese player won 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-2.

Earlier, Shameena Riaz and Om Semwal pulled off massive upsets on an action-packed day at the tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club (JVPG) at their air-conditioned courts in Mumbai on Tuesday.

While Shameena accounted for top seed Hayley Ward of South Africa in four games, Semwal displayed immense discipline and stamina as well as skill and guile to outlast third seed Diego Gobbi of Brazil in five games.

Shameena, who grabbed the last spot on the Indian team for the Asian Games, rallied from the loss of the first game to keep her nerves and play strongly against the top seed, Hayley Ward of South Africa. With Hayley trying all the tricks in the book to upset the rhythm of Shameena, it was the 20-year-old from Chennai who managed to come up trumps in tight situations and win 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.

In other matches featuring Indians, third seed Tanvi Khanna outplayed Pooja Arthi Raghu 3-0, while 5th seed Suraj Kumar Chand lost in three games to Egypt’s Ziad Ibrahim on Monday night.

Results:

Men’s 2nd round: (1) Velavan Senthilkumar bt Ayaan Vaziralli 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-6); (4) A Hafez bt A Dewan 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 11-9); (7) T. Endo (Japan) bt R Baitha 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-5);

Quarter Final – M. Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia) bt S. Eltorgman (Egypt) 3-1 (11-7,6-11,11-5,11-8); (8) Z Ibrahim bt O. Semwal 3-2 (11-5,11-13,11-8, 8-11,11-9).

Womens 2nd round: (4) N Khafagy bt S. Vats 3-1 (7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7); (5) M. Fathy bt A. Dubey 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-6); (7) R. Sugimoto bt U. Tripathi 3-0 (11-5,11-8,11-6); (2) F. Walid bt N. Dubey 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-7).

Quarter Final – (6) A. Midorikawa bt S. Riaz 3-1 (12-10,11-8,5-11,11-2).

–IANS

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