Joshna Chinappa in Qatar quarters

Joshna Chinappa continued her impressive run to reach the quarter-finals of the $115,000 Qatar Classic squash tournament on Monday.

Joshna took out a fighting Yathreb Adel of Egypt 16-14, 11-8, 11-8. The 17th-ranked Indian had beaten world number one Raneem El Welily of Egypt on Day One for a sensational start to her campaign.

The scores do not quite portray the thrilling 37-minute tussle which had the makings of a long drawn battle but fizzled out at the end.

The Chennai-based player was down 2-6 in the first game before forcing her way back. Points went neck-and-neck and it was 9-9 at one stage as the contest spilled to extra points. It was not just close but invited the referee to advise the players to concentrate on clearing the ball.

Adel led 6-3 in the second and Joshna’s fine strokes left the Egyptian lunging and missing. From 8-8 all, the Indian wrapped it up.

The third game followed like the earlier ones with Adel, who is a full time student in England, going 5-2 up and yet again saw the advantage slip by the stupendous work of her opponent, who made her first entry into the quarter-final of a world series event in two years.