Squash on Fire Open: Senthilkumar, Chotrani advance in Washington

Reigning men’s national champion Velavan Senthilkumar and Veer Chotrani advanced in the Squash on Fire Open in Washington with hard-fought first round wins in the PSA Bronze-level event.

World No. 46 Senthilkumar rallied to beat England’s Tom Walsh 12-14, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 and will next meet Mexican world No. 11 and second seed Leonel Cardenas. World No. 49 Chotrani edged out Hungary’s Balazs Farkas 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, and will take on French world No. 19 and fourth seed Baptiste Masotti next.

Meanwhile, Women’s National champion and seventh seed Anahat Singh received a first-round bye. That was followed by another five-game tussle between Menna Hamed and Wai Yhann Au Yeong in the match immediately afterwards. Au Yeong only got into the tournament earlier this week but threatened an upset in round one as she came out on top of two lung-busting tiebreaks in the first two games against Hamed, winning the first 15-13 and the second 19-17. Hamed was being hampered by an injury to her toe and started game three 1-0 down after being given a time violation for a delayed return to court, but she quickly began to find her rhythm and her range nonetheless.

After closing out game three 11-5, she overturned a 5-3 deficit to take the fourth 11-7 and would need only seven more minutes to clinch her spot in round two, wrapping up the decider with a neat backhand drop down the linear 10-4.

Later in the day, there was an impressive 3-2 win for Hayley Ward over Xin Ying Yee, while Noor Zaman overcame a tricky test in the form of wildcard Yee Xian Siow. Nathan Lake rounded out the day’s play with a 3-1 win over Mazen Hesham.