Sparring with World No. 15 Mohamed ElShorbagy and World No. 22 Baptiste Masotti under the watchful eyes of French coach Gregory Gaultier in Prague over the last few weeks has made India’s Velavan Senthilkumar a more solid and consistent player.

The 28-year-old’s preparation ahead of the new season paid handsome dividends as he clinched his maiden PSA World Tour title at the Budapest Open on Saturday. In the Copper event, the World No. 54 defeated Hungary’s Balazs Farkas 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 in the final to bag his 11th PSA crown.

On winning the biggest trophy of his career yet, Velavan said: “This is the best I’ve played in terms of the quality of squash and the consistency I displayed.”

Working with Gaultier, a former World No. 1, and Saurav Ghosal ahead of the new season helped him immensely. “With Gaultier, I am putting in the hard yards and with Saurav, I am working on a few technical aspects,” he said.

Beating top seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia for the first time — in the last-eight stage — was a huge confidence booster for the Indian. “I have grown up with him playing the Asian juniors. This was my first win against him,” he added.

Velavan proved that the victory over the Malaysian was no flash in the pan as he defeated his compatriot and third seed Veer Chotrani in the semifinals. “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],” he said.

His ultimate goal is to break into the world’s top 20 in singles by the end of the season.

Excited

The southpaw is excited to play with Joshna Chinappa in mixed doubles at the Asian Games. “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,” said Velavan, who had won bronze with Joshna at the Asian Doubles Championships in June.

On Saturday, in her final year as a junior, she buried it. Anahat won in straight games in the final against Ruqayya Salem, ended Egypt’s run of 13 straight titles, and secured a first for Indian squash.

“The score says 3-0, but it was definitely not comfortable. In a final, every single point feels like it’s the last,” she told The Hindu, in a virtual interaction facilitated by JSW Sports, on Monday.

Anahat felt she had a real shot at the title after the first two games — until things got tight in the third game.

She caught herself just in time, before the ghosts stirred again.

In the end, she lost just two games in the entire tournament and showed why she was the top seed and India’s No. 1 ranked player.

“The mental strength was always there, but I’ve not used it well. So I told myself to focus, get it done and then enjoy it all. Following a set routine really helped, and I think I have to follow it going forward.”

That said, her nerves actually eased as the competition wore on.

“I was more stressed out in my first few rounds because you really need to get the momentum right. I knew I was playing well and I was quite confident [going into the final]. I just wanted to get it over with because it was too stressful in the build-up to the tournament.”

Yet even history has its blind spots. The 18-year-old’s one regret? The winning moment itself.

“My celebration was really bad! Winning the title felt unreal, and so I couldn’t think of anything in the moment,” she added with a laugh.