Yahya Elnawasany stunned No.2 seed Ng Eain Yow in a five-game epic at the Indian Open quarter-finals, while Anahat Singh and Joshna Chippa kept home hopes alive with victories in the women\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt\u2019s Elnawasany had never beaten Eain Yow before, twice going down 3-1 in their previous meetings, but he went toe-to-toe with the Malaysian throughout a brutal, 86-minute encounter here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After losing the first game 11-8, Elnawasany battled back from 10-8 down to win the second on a tiebreak, reeling off four points on the bounce in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lost the third 11-5 but didn\u2019t let that deflate him, continuing to fight hard for every point, taking the game to Yow in the front corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His reward was an 11-9 success in game four that sent the match to a decider, with the match time now well past the hour mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looked as though Yow would perhaps run away with game five as he flew out into an 8-4 lead after a series of short, sharp rallies, but Elnawasany had other ideas, winning five of the next seven points to level at 9-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A first match ball then came and went for the Egyptian, as did another three in a breathtaking and tension-filled tiebreak, with the 23-year-old perhaps being overly aggressive in his search for victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he would finally get over the line on match ball number five, sinking to the floor with a huge roar of emotion after a smart forehand boast left Eain Yow with no chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elnawasany will now face third seed Mohamad Zakaria after his eventful 3-0 win over Velavan Senthilkumar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the local time being almost 11pm by the time their match started, conditions were already cold, but 30 minutes later they deteriorated significantly, with significant amounts of due making the court slippery, leaving the referee struggling to see through the walls and causing Zakaria problems with his goggle steaming up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A decision was made to move the conclusion of the match inside to the traditional courts with Zakaria a game up and leading 4-3 in the second, but it ultimately did little to halt the young Egyptian\u2019s momentum, as he moved swiftly to a straight-games win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other semi-final, meanwhile will feature the in-form Yannick Wilhelmi, after he continued his impressive week with a win over fourth seed Sebastien Bonamalais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilhelmi arrived here in India on the back of winning his biggest career title at the Czech Open, and produced an outstanding display to beat fifth seed and home favorite Abhay Singh in round two here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That set him up for a quarter-final clash with France\u2019s Bonmalais on the spectacular all-glass show court in front of the main building at Daly College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swiss No.3 had made a fast start to his win over Singh, and followed suit 24 hours later against Bonmalais, moving his opponent around the court and hitting with exceptional accuracy down the lines, winning game one 11-4 in just eight minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then took game two 11-7 and had a match ball in the third at 12-11, only to see it come and go as Bonmalais dug deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pair had shared some impressive rallies throughout game three, both showing dynamic movement into the front corners, but it was Wilhelmi who came out stronger in game four, racing out to a 10-4 lead, with six match balls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a couple of unforced errors and clean hitting from Bonmalais saw that lead shrink to just two points at 10-8, only for a backhand cross-court from Wilhelmi\u2019s racket to find a side-wall nick, prompting a huge release of emotion from the Swiss player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will now take on top seed Youssef Soliman in the last four, after the Egyptian came from behind to beat India\u2019s own Ramit Tandon in five games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a healthy crowd on his side, Tandon used all his skills towards the front of the court to take a 2-1 lead having lost game one, utilising the cold court conditions to his advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soliman responded well in the fourth, taking it 11-3, albeit only after a stoppage in play after Tandon had needed treatment on his knee after slipping into the back wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian player moved gingerly after returning to court for the remaining rallies of game four, but with fresh strapping applied, he was more mobile once again in the decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately, though, he would be unable to stay with the World No.10, going down 11-5 to see his title hopes ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tandon\u2019s defeat, and that for Senthilkumar at the hands of Zakaria leaves hopes of Indian success resting solely in the women\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those hopes are at least two-pronged, though, with 17-year-old Singh and 39-year-old Chinappa both through to the final four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinappa had come through a tough test against Lauren Baltayen in round two, but found life far more straight-forward against Spain\u2019s Sofia Mateos in the quarter-finals, winning 3-0 in 19 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teenage sensation Singh also won in straight games inside 20 minutes, producing another ruthless display to see off Katerina Tycova 11-5, 11-1, 11-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Women\u2019s Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Yahya Elnawasany stunned No.2 seed Ng Eain Yow in a five-game epic at the Indian Open quarter-finals, while<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6312,"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-6311","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
[1] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt. [7] Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-2: 11-5, 9-11, 3-11, 11-3, 11-5 (74m)
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt. [4] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 3-1: 11-4, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8 (54m)
[8] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) bt. [2] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-2: 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 15-13 (86m)
[3] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt. Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (66m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[3] Hannah Craig (IRL) bt. [5] Nga Ching Cheng (HKG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 (23m)
Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt. [7] Sof\u00eda Mateos (ESP) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (19m)
[1] Anahat Singh (IND) bt. [8] Katerina Tycova (GER) 3-0: 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 (17m)
[2] Nadien Elhammamy (EGY) bt. [6] Tanvi Khanna (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 (30m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"