Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) Indian players Velvan Senthilkumar, the men’s top seed, and Tanvi Khanna, the women’s third seed, stayed on course, winning their quarterfinals in contrasting fashion at the USD 15,000 SRFI PSA Challenger Tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana (JVPG) Club at their air-conditioned courts, in Mumbai on Thursday.

While Sentilkumar overcame a slightly shaky start to account for Egyptian 4th seed Abdullah Hafez in straight games, winning 15-13, 11-4, 11-3, Tanvi dropped a game to Zoe Foo, the 8th seed from Japan, before winning 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.

While Senthilkumar will take on the 2nd seed, Yassin Shohdy of Egypt, for a place in the final, Tanvi will lock horns with the 6th seed, Akari Midorikawa of Japan. Shohdy made short work of 7th seed Tomotaka Endo of Japan, winning 11-8, 11-8-11-4, Midorikawa defeated Shameena Riaz in four games late on Wednesday.

The other men’s semis will pit Malaysian Syafiq Kamal against the Egyptian 8th seed Ziad Ibrahim, while the women’s second semis will be an all-Egyptian affair, featuring 2nd seed Farida Walid versus 4th seed Nour Khafagy.

Earlier, 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 HCL-SRFI PSA Challenger Tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club at their air-conditioned courts, here, 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 3rd seed in a five-game thriller, looked on course for another upset win over 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.

Results:

Men’s singles quarterfinals: (2) Yassin Shohdy (Egypt) bt (7) Tomotaka Endo (Japan) 3-0 (11-8,11-8,11-4); (1) Velavan Senthilkumar (Indi) bt (4) Abdullah Hafez (Egypt) 3-0 (15-13,11-4,11-3); Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia) bt Salah Eltorgman (Egypt) 3-1 (11-7,6-11,11-5,11-8); (8) Ziad Ibrahim bt Om Semwal 3-2 (11-5,11-13,11-8, 8-11,11-9).

Women’s singles quarterfinal: (2) Farida Walid (Egypt) bt (7) Risa Sugimoto (Japan) 3-0 (11-5,11-5,11-6); (4) Nour Khafagy (Egypt) bt (5) Malak Fathy (Egypt) 3-0 (11-1,11-9,11-8); (3) Tanvi Khanna (India) bt (8) Zoe. Foo (Japan) 3-1 (11-6,11-7,8-11,11-6); (6) Akari Midorikawa (Japan) bt Shameena Riaz (India) 3-1 (12-10,11-8,5-11,11-2).

–IANS

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