There will be an Indian winner of the men\u2019s title at the Indian Open squash championships, after Abhay Singh and Veer Chotrani set up a finals day showdown at the Cricket Club of India, where birthday girl Hana Moataz and No.1 seed Anahat Singh also won their semi-final matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three of the four semi-finals taking place in Mumbai featured a home favorite, with the second semi-final between Anahat Singh and Tanvi Khanna being an all-Indian affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abhay is ranked 62 places above Khanna in the world, but the 29-year-old pushed the teenage star hard, particularly in the mid-stages of the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After losing game one 11-6, Khanna raced into a 4-0 lead in the second, and held on to close out the game 11-9, with the crowd split over which corner they were in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World No.82 continued to test Abhay in game three but ultimately came up short, going down 11-8. From there, the talented teenager took control, showcasing her silky hands and shot-making abilities in a one-sided fourth game, needing only four minutes to book herself a spot in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, she will look to defend her title against No.2 seed Hana Moataz, who celebrated her 26th birthday in style with a win over fellow Egyptian Nadien Elhammamy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After splitting the opening two games, Moataz looked to be in control from there on in, having won the third game 11-5 and then moved 9-2 up in the fourth, only for Elhammamy to reel off five straight points to cut the deficit back to two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that would be as close as she would get, as Moataz ripped a forehand kill down the line to clinch victory on match ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two women\u2019s semi-finals sandwiched Abhay Singh\u2019s success over Malaysia\u2019s Ameeshenraj Chandaran, which secured him a spot in the final of this event for a second straight year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like both Anahat Singh and Moataz, Singh was made to work for his victory, needing all four games and close to an hour to sink the tricky Malaysian, but got his reward for a consistent display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will now take on hometown favorite Chotrani for the title, hoping to go one better than in this event 12 months ago, when he was beaten in the final by Kareem El Torkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chotrani, who is from Mumbai, also got the better of a Malaysian opponent, also in four games, beating Sanjay Jeeva to complete a clean sweep of 3-1 results in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unsurprisingly given Chotrani\u2019s attacking style of play, there were plenty of short, sharp rallies, with the first two games taking little more than 15 minutes in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian No.3 was at his free-flowing best at times, too, taking the ball in short and making the most of the glass court with his soft and delicate hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeeva got a game on the board by winning the third 11-5, but that would ultimately serve to only delay Chotrani\u2019s path to the final, as the 24-year-old wrapped up victory with an 11-6 win in the fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s: <\/strong>[2] Hana Moataz (EGY) bt. [3] Nadien Elhammamy (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7 (40m); [1] Anahat Singh (IND) bt. Tanvi Khanna (IND) 3-1: 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2 (34m) There will be an Indian winner of the men\u2019s title at the Indian Open squash championships, after Abhay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-10815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Men\u2019s: <\/strong>[2] Abhay Singh (IND) bt. Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) 3-1: 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 (54m); [4] Veer Chotrani (IND) bt. [6] Sanjay Jeeva (MAS) 3-1: 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6 (37m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"