Chinnappa, Reddy in semis

British Open champion Joshna Chinnappa and her Chennai team mate, second seed Vaidehi Reddy, entered the semi-finals in the girls' section in the 11th Asian Junior squash championships in Islamabad on Monday night.

In the quarter finals, Joshna defeated compatriot Alisha Mashruwala 9-1, 9-2, 9-3 to set up a clash with Hong Kong's Chan Ho Ling in the semis.

However, Vaidehi struggled to beat Sally Looi of Malaysia, winning 9-5, 9-10, 7-9, 9-2, 9-6.

In a match that went the full distance, Vaidehi could not find the length of her shots for most part of the contest. She hit far too many balls into the mid-court to allow her opponent to bounce back into the match but managed to prevail in the end.

The Indian boys also gave a good account of themselves, with Sourav Ghoshal too making it to the semi-finals with an upset 9-2, 9-5, 9-7 win over Vincent Yu of Hong Kong.

In the semis, he will be up against British Open winner and second seed Yasir Butt of Pakistan.