Maha Open Squash tournament: Top seed Sachika in last eight

Mumbai, Sep 1 (PTI) Top seed Sachika Ingale of Uttar Pradesh trounced Rewa Bharma of Maharashtra in straight games to progress to the quarter-final round of the women's event of the 42nd Maharashtra State Open Squash tournament today. In a second round match, Sachika quickly got into her stride and completely dominated play against her young 15-year-old opponent Bharma, and went on to complete a 11-3, 11-5, 11-1 win, at the Bombay Gymkhana's glass-back courts. Second seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra had an easy passage to the last eight. She got a walkover. In one of the most exciting and well contested encounters, Pranjali Sharma of Maharashtra showed great resilience and fighting spirit as she rallied to put it across Mira Kamat of USA, winning 13-15, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5. In another match, 15-year-old Sarah Vethekar of Maharashtra was in a prime form and dropped just three points, all in the final game, as she outclassed Tarika Vohra 11-0, 11-0, 11-3. In men's action, the top two seeds, Robert Downer from England and Aditya Jagtap of Maharashtra, easily won their fourth round matches to sail into the quarter-finals. Downer tamed Services player Ashish Keskar posting a comfortable 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 win, while Jagtap outplayed Ranjit Singh of Uttar Pradesh, coasting to a 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 win. Seasoned pro Sandeep Jangra of Services and Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi, the joint third-fourth seeds, also booked their place in the last eight. In fourth round ties, Jangra, despite not going flat out, still managed to score over Aishwary Singh of Maharashtra, winning in four games at 11-4, 11-4, 12-14, 11-8. In contrast Nandrajog proved too good for Akhilesh Kumar Yadav of Services and romped to a 11-7, 11-2, 11-1 victory