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India's rising squash star Anahat Singh continued her winning run over veteran Joshna Chinappa, securing the women's title at the HCL Squash Indian Tour 4, Chennai on Friday.
Coming to the men's draw, it was Velavan Senthilkumar who downed Egypt's Adam Hawal for the men's title. The 17-year-old Anahat, the tournament's top seed and India's highest-ranked player at world number 29, beat the 39-year-old by 3-2 (11-8, 11-13, 11-13, 11-6, 11-8) in 52 minutes, getting her third win over the Indian squash star in as many matches, as per Olympics.com. Both had faced off against each other in the SRFI Indian Open final last month, where Anahat had beat Joshna with a similar 3-2 scoreline. Before this in March in Mumbai during the Indian Open, the teen sensation had beaten Joshna 3-1 in the semifinals to book a title clash. Anahat had been invincible leading up to the finals, having dropped no games. After receiving a first-round bye, she registered wins over Czechia's Tamara Holzbauerova, Japan's Akari Midorikawa and third seed Hayley Ward of South Africa. This marks Anahat's fourth title of the season, having previously won the Indian Open in Mumbai, the SRFI Indian Tour title in Chennai and the SRFI Indian Open 2025 tournament in Indore. This is also Anahat's 14th Professional Squash Association (PSA) title while competing in just her 21st PSA event. The Indian teenager has been in a raging form this season. She had beaten seventh-ranked Tinne Gilis and world No. 20 Melissa Alves before falling short against world No. 10 Georgina Kennedy of England in the semi-finals of the Canadian Women's Open in October. During August, Anahat etched her name in history, becoming the first-ever Indian women's squash player to have reached the finals of a PSA World Tour Copper-level event, at the NSW Squash Bega Open 2025 in Australia. In 2024, Anahat ended with a whopping nine PSA Challenger titles. The top men's seed, Velavan Senthilkumar, outclassed the Egyptian challenge in 62 minutes, having dropped only one game on his way to the finals, in the semifinals against France's Marco Levy. In the earlier matches, he had beaten Sri Lanka's Ravindu Laksiri and Australia's sixth-seeded Joseph White. This is his 10th career title on the PSA Tour, and he had also secured a bronze medal at the Asian Squash Championships in June this year. (ANI)
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