India, Sept. 28 -- India's men's and women's squash teams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Games on Monday, with the women edging past Japan 2-1 in a hard-fought tie and the men blanking South Korea 3-0.

The Indian women, seeded third and bronze medallists at the previous edition, had to dig deep after lead player Anahat Singh lost a five-game battle to world number six Satomi Watanabe.

Veteran Joshna Chinappa, competing in a record seventh Asian Games, put India ahead with an 11-1, 11-8, 11-9 win over Erisa Sano.

Anahat then faced Watanabe for the second time in three days. The 17th-ranked Indian, who had beaten the Japanese in the individual semifinals before going on to win a historic silver, could not repeat that result a...