Tamil Nadu’s joint 3-4 seed Rathika Suthanthira Seelan played with plenty of grit and determination to send second seed Janet Vidhi of Maharashtra crashing out, by scoring a 3-0 win in the penultimate round of the Bombay Gymkhana JSW-46th Maharashtra State Open Squash Tournament 2023, and co-sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Parfums, at the Gymkhana’s courts on Tuesday.
Rathika started confidently and dominated the rallies to lead throughout against the left-handed Vidhi, who played much below her best. The Tamil Nadu challenger was steady and hit some fine winners on both sides as she picked up the points to complete a satisfying 11-7, 11-7, and 11-4 win to make her maiden entry into the final.
In the final, Rathika will clash with the top seed Anahat Singh of Delhi who sidelined Maharashtra’s Sunita Patel in three staright games. The 15-year-old Anahat, who recently won the girls’ under-17 gold at the Asian Junior Championship in Thailand, defeated Sunita by a convincing 11-3, 11-5, and 11-4 game scores.
In an interesting girls’ under-15 semi-final matches, Maharashtra’s joint 3-4 seed Anika Dubey registered a stunning straight game defeat over Tamil Nadu’s top seed Vyomika Khandelwal posting an 11-6, 11-4, and 11-6 victory. Anika’s compatriot and second seed Diva Shah staged a gallant fight back to overcome joint 3-4 seed Eesha Shrivastava of Maharashtra 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-9.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu girls had a field day as besides Rathika, six others have advanced to the finals. Jerusha Jebindran beat Ariana Almoula 11-5, 11-1, 11-0 in the under-9 semi-final, while Yashika Vinothkumar got the better of Maharashtra’s Shanaya Parasrampuria 15-13, 11-7, 11-6 in the under-11 semi-final.
The under-13 final will be contest between Tamil Nadu players with top seed D. Nitiyasree defeating Rajasthan’s Gauri Jaiswal 11-1, 12-14, 12-10, 11-5 and Goushika M. prevailing over Raayisha Naik of Maharashtra by a 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 scoreline.
The top seed Ananya Narayanan got the better of Maharashtra’s Jiya Chotrani 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 to advance to the girls’ under-17 final and in the under-19 category M. Amritha Rajalakshmi outplayed Karnataka’s Vaibhavi Baalaje winning in straight games at 11-2, 11-4, 11-5.
Results (all semi-finals) - Girls’ U-9: 1-Jerusha Jebindran (TN) bt 3/4-Ariana Almoula 11-5, 11-1, 11-0; 3/4-Sandhya Yadav (MH) bt Aarohi Gaurav Sathaye (MH) 10-12, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8.
Girls U-11: 1-Yashika Vinothkumar (TN) bt Shanaya Parasrampuria (MH) 15-13, 11-7, 11-6; 2-Shanaya Roy (MH) bt 3/4-Mahika Subramaniam (MH) 12-10, 11-13, 12-10, 7-11, 14-12.
Girls’ U-13: 1-D. Nitiyasree (TN) bt Gauri Jaiswal (RJ) 11-1, 12-14, 12-10, 11-5; Goushika M (TN) bt Raayisha Naik (MH) 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.
Girls U-15: 3/4-Anika Dubey (MH) bt 1-Vyomika Khandelwal (TN) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; 2-Diva Shah (MH) bt 3/4-Eesha Shrivastava (MH) 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-9.
Girls U-17: 1-Ananya Narayanan (TN) bt Jiya Chotrani (MH) 11-2, 11-6, 11-3; 2-Rudra Singh (MH) bt Anika Punjabi (MH) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2.
Girls U-19: 2-Anahat Singh (DL) bt Nirupama Dubey (MH) 11-3, 11-3, 11-6; M Amritha Rajalakshmi (TN) bt Vaibhavi Baalaje (KA) 11-2, 11-4, 11-5.
Boys' U-9: 1-Tilakvir Kapoor (MH) bt Nilesh Patel (MH) 1-8, 11-3, 11-4; 2-Aarav Venkat Kothapalli (MH) bt 3/4-Shaurya Bakshi 11-7, 11-2, 11-2
Boys' U-11: 1-Aaditya Shah (MH) bt 3/4-Parshuram Lachaka (MH) 11-13, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4; 2-Dhairya Gogia (RJ) bt Tilakvir Kapoor (MH) 11-9, 11-9, 12-14, 11-6.
Boys' U-13: 1-Swarit Patil (MH) bt 3/4-Akshat Singhal (WB) 11-2, 11-1, 11-1; 2-Shreyansh Jha (MH) bt Vivaan Khanna (MH) 11-0, 11-7, 11-5.
Boys’ U-15: 3/4-Purav Rambhia (MH) bt Kamlesh Dama Dore (MH) 11-2, 11-5, 11-5; 3/4-Shiven Agarwal (TN) bt Kavanpal Kohli (MH) 11-4, 11-7, 11-1.
Boys’ U-17: 1-Arjun Somani (MH) bt Vedant Chheda (MH) 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11, 11-8; 2-Ekambir Singh (MH) bt 3/4-Abhiraj Singh (BR) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.
Boys’ U-19: 3/4-Ayaan Vaziralli (MH) bt 2-Vivaan Shah (MH) 11-4, 11-6, 12-10.
Women: 1- Anahat Singh (DL) bt Sunita Patel (MH) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4; 3/4-Rathika Suthanthira Seelan (TN) bt 2-Janet Vidhi (MH) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
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