New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) India’s Armaan Bhatia and Harsh Mehta defeated Indian-Australian duo of Jai Grewal and Jason Taylor in the men’s category of Pro division to qualify for the finals of PWR DUPR India Masters Pickleball Championship at the DLTA Stadium here on Friday.
Also advancing to the finals were the Australian-American duo of Mitchell Hargreaves and Roman Estareja, who dominated the American pair of Dusty Boyer and Naveen Beasley in the semifinals.
In the highly-competitive Pro division, Bhatia and Mehta displayed utmost grace and skill to score an impressive 11-3 in the first game. Taylor-Grewal responded with a massive 7-0 lead in the second game.
The match took an intense turn as Bhatia-Mehta fought back, cinching a win with the slightest margin of 11-9.
The finals will be on October 27.
The other semifinals was a one-sided affair as Hargreaves and Estareja won both games fair and square.
In the Pro Women’s category, Taiwan-American duo Yuchieh Hsieh and Xiao Yi Wang Beckvall beat Australia’s Somer Dallabona and Sarah Burr, while Dutch/Australian duo of Roos Van Reek and Kaitlynn Hart also secured a spot in the finals as they defeated the Australian-Filipino pair of Emilia Schmidt and Sarah J. Lim in a strong performance.
Van Reek and Hart won the first set with a huge 11-3 win, maintaining their lead as they won the second game, too.
Earlier, Sarah Jane Lim and Emilia Schmidt outclassed India’s Amrita Mukherjee and Sharmada Balu 11-1, 11-2 in the second quarter-final.
It was a convincing win for Lim and Schmidt as they dominated right from the start and won the first set 11-1.
Thereafter, the duo continued their dominance in the second set, winning it 11-2.
Such was the dominance of the duo that the Indian pair simply had no answers to Lim and Schmidt’s smashes and technical superiority.
For Lim and Schmidt, it was a good way to strengthen their skills and announce themselves as one of the top contenders for the championship.
The USA-Taiwan duo of Xiao and Hsieh got the better of Australian-Japanese pair of Helena Spiridis-Aiko Yoshitami in women’s Pro quarter-final.
Pickleball World Rankings (PWR), the unified global ranking system for pickleball players, is hosting the PWR DUPR India Masters, a PWR700 event on the PWR World Tour in New Delhi.
This tournament is poised to establish a strong foothold in India with the launch of this event. As a PWR700 event, the tournament will also help players gather up to 700 ranking points, which are valid for 52 weeks, directly impacting their seeding and eligibility for future global competitions.
The event will also feature a thrilling PWR Battle of the Leagues-Minor League Pickleball, where teams of two men and two women will compete across different categories. PTI ATK KHS
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