Squash
2024 PSA Open Squash Classic: Abhay and Velavan advances to the quarterfinal
Abhay played out a thrilling five-game match against fifth seed Adrian Waller while Velavan defeated eighth seed Omar Mosaad.
Abhay Singh is on a roll as he won his 7th PSA Challenger Tournament. (File photo)
India's Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2024 PSA Open Squash Classic, in New York City on Monday.
Abhay Singh played a dramatic five-set match against fifth-seed Adrian Waller of England.
This was Abhay's second upset of the tournament.
Starting the game on a strong note, his opponent pinned Abhay back and won the first game 11-4.
But Abhay returned strongly in games two and three, winning 11-9 each.
Game four was completely against the run of play, with Waller dominating Abhay and winning 11-2, taking the game into a decider.
The fifth and decider game was fought tooth and nail by both players and Abhay had two match-points at the end of it, leading 10-8.
But Waller took the next two points and forced a tie-breaker.
And with the score line reading 12-11 in favor of the Indian, Waller sustained an ankle injury which brought the game to an abrupt halt after 63 minutes of playing time.
Velavan Senthilkumar too advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating eighth seed Omar Mosaad of Egypt in direct sets 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8).
A tough quarterfinals now awaits both Indians, as Abhay will take on top seed Marwan Elshorbagy of England and Velavan will face the second-seed Victor Crouin of France.
