Top seed Balamurugan sails into pre-quarters

Mumbai, Aug 8 (UNI) Top seed B Balamurugan of Chennai crushed Sandesh Mohite 3-0 to sail into the pre-quarter-finals in the 1st Patel Retail-SPA Classic Squash Championship, that kicked off at the Otters Club, Bandra here today.

Balamurugan, who earned a first round bye, fashioned a 11-1, 11-0, 11-1 win to set the trend for easy second round wins for seeded players.

Fourth seed Rohit More of CCI beat Baban More 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, No 5 Vijay Waghela of Khar Gymkhana overcame Sandeep Parab 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 and No 7 Santosh More got past Pune's Satish Todhar 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 to join Balamurugan in the last 16.

In contrast, there was plenty of action in the first round as Parab rallied to a thrilling 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2 win over Vilas Tambe in the match of the day that went all the way to the wire.

In other close encounters, Ajay Pawar prevailed over Rakesh Solanki 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, Manish Chauvan beat Sagar Dharne 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 and Manoj Solanki overcame Devdas Tambe 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-4.

In men's first round action, A Chaudhary of the Services endured a gruelling opener before getting the better of Kunal Premnarayan 12-10, 12-10, 11-6. The other significant winner in the same round was fancied Rishad Pandole.

Results: Men: 1st Rd: A Chaudhary (Services) bt Kunal Premnarayan 12-10, 12-10, 11-6; Rishad Pandole bt Kunal Arora 11-6, 11-8, 11-7; Harish Passi bt Karan Batra 11-1, 11-6, 11-6; Bipin Batra bt Nihal Gurshahani 11-5, 11-3, 11-4.

Professionals: 2nd Rd: B Balamurugan (Chennai) bt Sandesh Mohite 11-1, 11-0, 11-1; Vijay Waghela bt Sandeep Parab 11-7, 11-3, 11-4; Anant More bt Prashant Khaire 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; Rohit More bt Baban More 11-7, 11-6, 11-9; Santosh More bt Satish Todhar (Pune) 11-4, 11-4, 11-9; Vijay Sonavane bt Kishore Bamania 11-3, 11-5, 9-11, 11-2; Rajesh M. Sonawane bt Pramod Salvi 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; Sachin Jadhav bt Umesh Pawar 11-8, 11-3, 11-2; Gopi Mohite bt Manish Chauvan 11-5, 11-9, 12-10.

1st Rd: Manoj Solanki bt Devdas Tambe 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-4; Sandeep Parab bt Vilas Tambe 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2; Kishore Bamania bt Rahul Pawar 14-12, 11-0, 11-2; Baban More bt Sanjay Tambe 11-0, 11-1, 11-1; Satish Todhar (Pune) bt Pritesh Yelve 11-2, 11-2, 11-7; Manish Chauvan bt Sagar Dharne 11-9, 11-8, 12-10; Ajay Pawar bt Rakesh Solanki 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8.

UNI