Sandhu Sinks Huang in New Zealand

#PSAWorldTour

Number three seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu overcame Taiwan’s James Huang in a titanic five-game-thriller to progress to the semi-final stage of the DoubleDot Media Christchurch International Open, PSA Challenger 10 event.

World No.61 Sandhu saw out a tight opening game with victory in the tie-break before Huang fought back to level things up. With little to separate the duo they traded points at pace as the match headed into a nervy fifth and deciding game in which Chandigarh-born Sandhu eventually triumphed, taking the victory 14-12, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9.

Sandhu’s triumph means that he has the distinction of facing top seed Raphael Kandra for a place in the final after the German romped to a 3-0 victory over Matthew Hopkin in his quarter-final clash.

Rex Hedrick also made it through to the last four after his win over number eight seed Lance Beddoes. The Australian controlled the flow of the match for the duration of the three games with local hopeful Beddoes powerless to resist.

Fourth seed Declan James will be Hedrick’s semi-final opponent after he extinguished New Zealand’s hopes of a home winner by eliminating Paul Coll.

Coll won the first game courtesy of a tie-break but James struck back with a vengeance to take the next three games without reply to secure passage to the next round.

Results – Quarter-Final: DoubleDot Media Christchurch International Open 2015
[1] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [7] Matthew Hopkin (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 (31 min)
[3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt [6] James Huang (TPE) 3-2: 14-12, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 (73 mins)
[4] Declan James (ENG) bt [5] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-1: 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 (65 mins)
[2] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [8] Lance Beddoes (NZL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 (41 mins)

Draw – Semi-Final
[1] Raphael Kandra (GER) v [3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)
[4] Declan James (ENG) v [2] Rex Hedrick (AUS)