Washington: Veer Chotrani stunned the French world No. 19 Baptiste Masotti in a five-game thriller in the round of 16 at the Squash on Fire Open in Washington, while compatriot Velavan Senthilkumar went down to Mexican world No. 11 and second seed Leonel Cardenas in five games.
World No. 49 Chotrani staged a second straight comeback to sink No. 4 seed Masotti 11-6, 7-11, 8-11, 11-1, 11-9. and will meet sixth seed Declan James of England in the quarterfinals of the PSA Bronze-level event. Chotrani had recovered from 2-1, 8-2 down to beat Balazs Farkas in round one, and once again needed all five games to beat France’s Masotti 24 hours later, clinging on in a tension-filled fifth game, in which he saw five match balls come and go from 10-4 up before taking the sixth with a smart backhand drop at 10-9.
Chotrani will now face Declan James, who himself had to fight back from 2-0 down to win in five against Muhammad Asim Khan, closing out a 72-minute duel 11-7 in the fifth.
In the women’s section, seventh seed Anahat Singh beat Hayley Ward (RSA) 11-5, 11-8, 12-14, 11-5 in the second round. She will take on Egyptian second seed Sana Ibrahim in the quarterfinals.
In another entertaining battle, top seed Mohamed Elshorbagy beat rising star Noor Zaman after a hard-fought fourth-game tiebreak. IANS
Also Read: Fulham sign Norway winger Oscar Bobb from Manchester City