Velavan Senthilkumar crash out of German Open squash

National squash champion Velavan Senthilkumar suffered a straight-game defeat against Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the German Open in Hamburg on Friday.

Playing against a higher-ranked opponent, Senthilkumar lost 7-11, 6-11, 4-11 to the fourth-seed Malaysian at the $50,000 PSA World Tour Bronze event.

The first game saw both players staying close in scoring. A forehead drive that died in the back right corner from the Malaysian pushed the game to 4-5, and it was Yow Ng who got the better of the game from there. 

In the second and third games, Senthilkumar leaked errors resulting in a straight-game loss.

"It's always been a close affair (between us). For some reason, every time he (Senthil Kumar) upsets a few players to get to me," Yow Ng told the official PSA website.

"It's getting tougher every time, but I also know my strengths, I know I can hang in there, and play the big points better, and I think it showed in the first and second games. I'm just happy to get through in three today," added the Malaysian World no. 22, who has a 3-0 head-to-head record against the Indian player in PSA events. 

Earlier in the tournament, 2023 Asian medalist Senthilkumar stunned eighth seed George Parker of England in the pre-quarterfinals.

Senthilkumar was consistent during his 11-5,11-8,9-11,11-9 second-round win over Parker in 61 minutes on Thursday.

Earlier, Senthilkumar, ranked 59 in the world had defeated Yassin Elshafei of Egypt 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 in 62 minutes in the first round.