Velavan Senthilkumar beats Farkas to claim first PSA World Tour title in Budapest
Velavan Senthilkumar won his maiden PSA World Tour title at the Budapest Open on Saturday, defeating Hungary’s Balazs Farkas 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 in the final.
The 28-year-old’s preparation ahead of the new season paid off: in the Copper event the World No. 54 secured his first World Tour trophy and the 11th PSA crown of his career. On lifting the biggest prize of his career so far, he said, “This is the best I’ve played in terms of the quality of squash and the consistency I displayed.”
Velavan spent recent weeks training in Prague alongside World No. 15 Mohamed ElShorbagy and World No. 22 Baptiste Masotti under French coach Gregory Gaultier. The sessions in Prague, the article states, have helped make him a more solid and consistent player heading into the season.
He credited his work with both Gaultier and Saurav Ghosal for the improvement, adding: “With Gaultier, I am putting in the hard yards and with Saurav, I am working on a few technical aspects.” The combination of physical preparation and technical work was cited as a key factor in his form.
Velavan’s route to the title included a first-time victory over top seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia in the last-eight, a result he called a major confidence boost: “I have grown up with him playing the Asian juniors. This was my first win against him.” He then defeated compatriot and third seed Veer Chotrani in the semifinals, coming from 8-10 down in the fifth to win 12-10; on that match he said, “That was another amazing match. I was down 8-10 in the fifth game. Eventually winning it 12-10 was a really good indicator [of how I played].”
Velavan is also set to pair with Joshna Chinappa in mixed doubles at the Asian Games and described learning from her experience: “She is the most experienced player in the Indian team. She knows all the subtleties of doubles. I am trying to learn all of that from her.”
His stated objective now is to reach the world’s top 20 in singles by the end of the season; earlier this year he won bronze with Joshna Chinappa at the Asian Doubles Championships in June.
