SRFI Indian Tour Squash Championship: Top-seed Akanksha beats Egyptian Nadien, sets up semifinal clash against compatriot Joshna
SRFI Indian Tour Squash Championship: Top-seed Akanksha beats Egyptian Nadien, sets up semifinal clash against compatriot Joshna
Top seed Akanksha Salunkhe rallied from 1-2 down to win 11-8, 10-12, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9 versus Egyptian Nadien Elhammamy in the women’s quarterfinal of the SRFI Indian Tour Squash Challenge – a PSA Challenger event – at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy (ISTA) here on Wednesday.
With this win, Akanksha has set up a semifinal clash with fellow Indian Joshna Chinappa, who in a short time (18 min) made short work of Spaniard Sofia Mateos’ challenge to claim a straight games (11-7, 11-5, 11-4) win.
Veer Chotrani and Anahat Singh are the other Indians to progress to the semifinals.
Akanksha had better court movement and coverage than her opponent. She squandered her lead twice, though: she lost the second game, but held her nerve to secure the last game and the match. The 26-year-old seemed to make unforced errors in those crunch moments.
When she was up 10-6 in the second game, she let Mateos save four game points and go on to clinch the game 12-10. She hit the tin twice then. Similarly, in the last game, she let Mateos catch up from 4-8 down to make it 8-all and edge ahead 9-8, before winning. She hit the tin twice and failed to return twice then.
Speaking about those two phases after the match, she said: “Once I got the lead, I think I just kind of rushed a little bit too much to win the game. I think I learned the lesson when I was leading again in the fifth game. I was trying to do the same thing (rushing). So, I just told myself to be a little bit more patient and calmer, because she was also feeling the same nerves as I was. I just kind of told myself to hang in there a little more. And I think that made all the difference in the end.”
Published on Mar 19, 2025
