Mahesh Mangaonkar moves on into the semi-finals at Aberdeen
Third seed Mahesh Mangaonkar continues to sizzle at the PSA $10,000 North of Scotland Open in Aberdeen as he moved on into the semi-finals on Friday. The 22-year-old had it fairly easy against the seventh seed Chris Fuller and needed just 32 minutes to beat the Englishman, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5.
Mahesh will next face qualifier Youssef Soliman of Egypt who caused a big upset in the quarter-finals by toppling the top seed Karim Ali Fathi, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9.
Mangaonkar had come to this tournament with a rich vein of form after winning five matches en route to winning the Sekisui Open in March. He had a tough opener at this Aberdeen event on Thursday and held his nerves to come through in five gruelling games.
That surely freed him up and he was in no mood to relent in the quarter-finals. From start to finish, he was the more dominant player, building up leads with smart variations of pace, never letting his opponent get into a rhythm.
On Saturday, the Indian youngster will look to win his eighth match in a row.