Daijiworld Media Network - London

London, Nov 6: India's Velavan Senthilkumar advanced to the quarterfinals of the London Open squash tournament, an USD 18,000 PSA Challenger event, where he is the second seed.

The Indian, ranked world No. 42, defeated Paraguay's world No. 124 Francesco Marcantonio 11-5, 11-7, 14-12 in the second round on Thursday after receiving a first-round bye.

Senthilkumar, who has won two PSA Copper-level tournaments this year, will next face France's world No. 99 Amir Khaled-Jousselin for a place in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, India's world No. 167 Ayaan Vaziralli suffered an opening-round defeat against higher-ranked English player Ben Smith. Smith recovered from losing the first and third games to register a 6-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7 victory.

Senthilkumar comes into the London Open following another significant achievement last week, when he defeated top seed Greg Lobban of Scotland in the final to clinch the USD 35,000 Czech Open title, a PSA Copper-level tournament.

The triumph in the Czech Republic added to an impressive run for the Indian, who also enjoyed a successful campaign at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, returning with two bronze medals.

He secured one medal in the mixed team competition alongside Joshna Chinappa and another as part of the Indian men's team. The men's team's campaign ended in the semifinals following a 2-1 defeat to Malaysia.

Earlier, Senthilkumar had created history at the Budapest Open in August by defeating Hungary's Balazs Farkas in the final to claim his maiden PSA Copper-level title.

His latest achievements underline his growing consistency on the PSA Tour as he continues to build towards squash's Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.