5 September, 2023
Harry Huang and Nadeem Dalvi both reached the last eight of the men’s singles at the Latvia International in Riga.
Seeded seventh in the Latvia capital, Huang started his campaign with a solid 21-18 21-6 victory over Tino Daoudal in round one.
Huang then defeated another Frenchman, Yanis Gaudin, 21-18 21-9 before losing 17-21 21-19 21-14 to Israeli fourth seed Daniil Dubovenko in a hard-fought quarter-final encounter.
Meanwhile, Dalvi was in impressive form from the opening round, shocking third seed Elias Bracke to begin his campaign.
Dalvi defeated the Belgian 21-16 21-17 to start his tournament in fine style, backing that up with a 21-19 22-20 over France’s Simon Baron-Vezilier in round two.
But, much like Huang, his quest ended in a three-game defeat in the last eight, Aria Dinata of Croatia proving too strong in a 21-17 16-21 21-17 triumph.
Elsewhere, Neil Bhabuta came all the way through qualifying to reach the second round in Riga.
After a successful qualifying campaign, Bhabuta defeated Paul Tournefier 21-18 23-21 before losing 21-19 22-20 to another Frenchman, Yohan Barbieri.
In the women’s singles, English players Lisa Curtin and Freya Redfearn were drawn against each other in an opening-round encounter.
And it was Curtin – promoted from qualifying – who prevailed, winning the all-English encounter 21-13 21-9, though she was then beaten 21-13 21-11 in her next match by seventh seed Anna Tatranova.
