Leonel cardenas

Wai Yhann Au Yeong: Reigning men’s national champion Velavan Senthilkumar and Veer Chotrani advanced in the Squash on Fire Open in Washington with hard-fought first round wins in the PSA Bronze-level event.

World No. 46 Senthilkumar rallied to beat England’s Tom Walsh 12-14, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 and will next meet Mexican world No. 11 and second seed Leonel Cardenas. World No. 49 Chotrani edged out Hungary’s Balazs Farkas 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, and will take on French world No. 19 and fourth seed Baptiste Masotti next.

Chotrani found himself on the brink of defeat to the Hungarian No. 1, sitting 8-2 down in game four, having lost the first two games before winning the third. But the talented Indian dug deep to win nine of the next 10 points, sending the match to a decider and shifting the momentum firmly in his favour. He carried that momentum into the decider, too, racing clear to bring up seven match balls at 10-3, needing only one to get over the line.