Fourth seed Abhishek Pradhan subdued the top seed Abhishek Agarwal 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5 in the men’s semifinals of the HCL PSA Challenger squash tournament at the Shiv Nadar University on September 6.
It will be a repeat of the Chennai event, as Abhishek will take on third seed Valavan Senthilkumar in the final.
Velavan maintained his undefeated streak in the last two tournaments with a straight-game victory over Rahul Baitha.
In the women’s section, top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla was stretched to five games by third seed Urwashi Joshi, who recovered from the brink of defeat in the third game to prolong her fight. Sunayna prevailed 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 7-11, 11-8.
In the final, Sunayna will face the second seed and the champion of the last event in Chennai, Tanvi Khanna. In their thriller last meeting, Tanvi had tamed Sunayna 15-13 in the fifth game in the Chennai final last month.
Tanvi conserved her energy for the final, as she eased past Anjali Semwal in straight games in the semifinals.
The results (semifinals): Men: Abhishek Pradhan bt Abhishek Agarwal 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5; Velavan Senthilkumar bt Rahul Baitha 11-4, 11-8, 11-8.
Women: Sunayna Kuruvilla bt Urwashi Joshi 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 7-11, 11-8; Tanvi Khanna bt Anjali Semwal 11-8, 11-5, 11-5).
