Unseeded Varvara Esina of Russia put it across Rathika Seelan of India (seeded 9/16) 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4 in a women’s first round match of the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour PSA Challenger squash tournament here on Monday.
Trailing by a game, Rathika was cruising along 8-3 in the fourth before the Russian closed in at 8-9. The Indian, however, closed out the game at 11-9.
In the decider, Varvara kept attacking from the backcourt to take a 6-2 lead and never looked back.
Wild card entrant Navaneeth Prabhu of India defeated compatriot Yash Fadte (9/16) 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 to progress to the men’s pre-quarterfinals.
The results (first round):
Men: Navaneeth Prabhu bt Yash Fadte 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5; Seif Shenawy (Egy) bt Veer Chotrani 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6; Vladislav Titov (Rus) bt Rounak Yadav 11-5, 11-2, 11-6; Aly Hussein (Egy) bt Ravi Dixit 11-6, 11-3, 11-6.
Women: Abhisheka Shannon bt Akshaya Sri 11-1, 11-6, 8-11, 14-12; Shameena Riaz bt Tiana Parasrampuria 11-9, 4-11, 10-12, 8-10, 13-11; Vasudha Surange bt Bijli Darvada 11-3, 11-6, 11-0; R. Pooja Arthi bt Radhika Rathore 12-10, 11-9, 11-8; Varvara Esina (Rus) bt Rathika Seelan 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4; Yoshna Singh bt Aaradhana Kasturiraj 11-4, 11-8, 11-5.
