Indian hopes in the inaugural CCI PSA Squash Challenger 15 rest solely on the shoulders of Mahesh Mangaonkar after the 19-year-old despatched Jordanian Ahmad Al-Saraj in the opening round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 event, here today.
"I'm happy to win 3-0," said the Mumbai-based teenager, ranked outside the world's top 100, after his 11-3 11-6 11-4 victory.
"I was very focused today and played with the right game plan. Big match for me tomorrow as I will play my first top 30 player Mohamed Ali Reda. I'm very excited to play him in front of my home crowd. Hopefully I will play well and win," he said.
Second seed Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, the world No47 from Cairo, defeated Egyptian qualifier Ahmed Atef 11-3 13-11 11-4.
Unseeded Indian Harinder Pal Sandhu took the opening game against Omar Abdel Meguid - but the third-seeded Egyptian soon imposed himself on the match to secure his anticipated win by a 3-11 11-2 11-9 12-10 margin.
"It was a good first match for me," said the 25-year-old from Giza. "Harry played really well in the first game and the crowd were cheering him off so that got me pumped and I started playing well in the next games. Hopefully I'll be playing better tomorrow."
Wildcard Ravi Dixit took Elvinn Keo the full distance, but the higher-ranked Malaysian ultimately won 11-5 11-13 11-2 8-11 11-7.
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Alan Clyne (SCO) v Greg Lobban (SCO) [4] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) v Elvinn Keo (MAS) [3] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) v Ivan Yuen (MAS) [2] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) v Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND).
