Rising Indian squash talent Anahat Singh nearly pulled off an upset before going down to Japanese world No. 7 Satomi Watanabe in the second round of the Sprott Tournament of Champions in New York.
Appearing in her first PSA Platinum-level event, the women's world No. 31 Anahat won the opening two games before the experienced Japanese sixth seed rallied to claim a 6-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6 result in her favour.
"It was a really difficult match for me – she (Anahat) played such amazing squash and her winners were insane," Satomi said.
"All I could do was retrieve those ones which weren't straight to the point... I'm just happy to get through today," she added.
India's top women's player Anahat had earlier defeated Lucy Turmel to move into the second round of the tournament. Anahat beat England's Turmel 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11.