Joshna Chinappa, Harinder Pal Sandhu Advance in Australian Open Squash

High on confidence after winning the Victoria Open title here last weekend, national champion Joshna Chinappa along with Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar made progress in the Australian Open squash tournament here on Wednesday. (Click here for latest sports stories)

However, two other Indians -- Kush Kumar and Sachika Ingale -- lost their respective first round matches.

Playing at the same venue where she had won the Victorian Open a few days ago, sixth seeded Joshna made short work of Estonian Alexia Clonda in straight games.

Sachika, on the other hand, found it tough against the South African seeded player Siyoli Waters and lost in three games.

In the men's section, Sandhu dropped one game en route to his win over wild card entrant Joshua Larkin of Australia while sixth seeded Mangaonkar too lost a game against Rhys Dowling of Australia before racing to a win.

Kush, who came through the qualifying competition, started well, but faded away as the match progressed and lost to Rex Hedrick, the eighth seed from Australia, in four games.

The results (Indian matches):

Men - first round: Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Joshua Larkin (Aus) 11-8, 6-11, 11-3, 11-9; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Rhys Dowling (Aus) 11-4, 9-11,A 11-0,11-9; Rex Hedrick (Aus) bt Kush Kumar 9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3.

Women: Joshna Chinappa bt Alexia Clonda (Estonia) 11-6, 11-6, 11-3; Siyoli Waters (S Africa) bt Sachika Ingale 12-10, 11-8, 11-9.