PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

CHAMPIONS: Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal, the winners of women's and men's singles titles.

NEW DELHI: Saurav Ghosal defeated Gaurav Nandrajog in straight games, overcoming a momentary lapse of concentration in the third, to claim his second National title in the 54th National squash championship at the Delhi Gymkhana Club here on Sunday.

Ghosal played a tactical game from the word go to unsettle Nandrajog, who came in to the match high on confidence having beaten defending champion Ritwik Bhattacharya in the semifinals on Saturday.

"Gaurav (Nandrajog) played a good match and showed that he has lot of potential," said Ghosal after winning 9-3, 9-2, 9-6 in just over 40 minutes. "Nandrajog's win against Ritwik was a wake up call for me and I had prepared myself thoroughly," said Ghosal.

"My aim is to break into top 50 in the PSA rankings by the end of this year," said Ghosal whose first National title came in 2004 in Mumbai.

Deft placements

Using deft placements, Ghosal raced to 5-0 lead in the first game before Nandrajog managed to a win a service. He reeled off three points in a jiffy but Nandrajog lost his serve when he found the board. Ghosal quickly wrapped up the game executing some fine backhand strokes.

Service changed hands quite often in the second game before Ghosal won a point on the third change. Again the two broke each other twice before Ghosal found his strokes going. He raced to an 8-0 lead before closing the game at 9-2.

In the third, Ghosal was up 6-0 when Nandrajog came up with his rally and forced Ghosal on the back foot with backhand volleys. After losing two points, Ghosal had championship point at 8-2, but Nandrajog was not in a mood to give up. He closed the gap to 8-6 before Ghosal closed out the match. "I made a few tactical errors and lost my focus for a while," Ghosal said of the third game.

Joshna Chinappa triumphed over Dipika Pallikal to claim her sixth National title, winning 9-2, 9-5, 9-4 in under 30 minutes.

In a match between the top two seeds, Joshana was a class apart from her teenaged opponent. She won the first game losing two points before Dipika provided some competition in the next two. But it was not enough to unsettle the five-time champion.

The results (finals):

Men: Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (TN) 9-3, 9-2, 9-6.

Women: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Dipika Pallikal (TN) 9-2, 9-5, 9-4.

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