Indian players Velvan Senthilkumar, the men’s top seed and Tanvi Khanna, the women’s third seed stayed on course, winning their quarter-finals in contrasting fashion at the USD 15,000 HCL-SRFI PSA Challenger tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club at their air conditioned courts, in Mumbai, on Thursday.While Sentilkumar overcame a slightly shaky start to account for Egyptian 4th seed Abdullah Hafez in straight games, winning 15-13, 11-4, 11-3, Tanvi dropped a game to Zoe Foo, the 8th seed from Japan before winning 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.While Senthilkumar will take on 2nd seed Yassin Shohdy of Egypt for a place in the final, Tanvi will lock horns with 6th seed Akari Midorikawa of Japan. Shohdy made short work of 7th seed Tomotaka Endo of Japan, winning 11-8, 11-8-11-4, Midorikawa defeated Shameena Riaz in four games late on Wednesday.The other men’s semis will pit Malaysian Syafiq Kamal against the Egyptian 8th seed Ziad Ibrahim, while the women’s second semis will be an all Egyptian affair, featuring 2nd seed Farida Walid versus 4th seed Nour Khafagy.RESULTSQuarter-finals (Men’s)(2) Yassin Shohdy (Egypt) bt (7) Tomotaka Endo (Japan) 3-0 (11-8,11-8,11-4); (1) Velavan Senthilkumar (India) bt (4) Abdullah Hafez (Egypt) 3-0 (15-13,11-4,11-3); Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia) bt Salah Eltorgman (Egypt) 3-1 (11-7,6-11,11-5,11-8); (8) Ziad Ibrahim bt Om Semwal 3-2 (11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9).Quarter-finals (Women’s)(2) Farida Walid (Egypt) bt (7) Risa Sugimoto (Japan) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-6); (4) Nour Khafagy (Egypt) bt (5) Malak Fathy (Egypt) 3-0 (11-1, 11-9, 11-8); (3) Tanvi Khanna (India) bt (8) Zoe Foo (Japan) 3-1 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6); (6) Akari Midorikawa (Japan) bt Shameena Riaz (India) 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-2).
