The Hindu : Sport : Saurav Ghosal keeps his nerve to take Chennai Open title

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Saurav Ghosal keeps his nerve to take Chennai Open title

Special Correspondent

Steady Annie spoils Dipika’s day

— Photo: V. Ganesan

WINNING SMILE: Annie Au and Saurav Ghosal (right) with chief guest N. Ramachandran.

CHENNAI: Saurav Ghosal played to his strengths and triumphed, while Dipika Pallikal failed to do that and lost to Annie Au of Hong Kong as the final day ended on a contrasting note for the two Indians in the ICL-Chennai Open here on Sunday.

The PSA title clash was an all-Indian affair with Ritwik Bhattacharya being Ghosal’s opponent. The two had not faced each other in recent times but when they last met, Ghosal was the victor. It initially seemed that Ritwik was out for revenge, given the way he controlled the pace and trend of the exchanges. In particular, he displayed delicate touch when dealing with the ball at the forecourt, something that Ghosal failed to do.

Wait and watch

Ghosal is nowadays showing a tendency to wait and watch. Aggression has always been his first choice but he has now started to play according to the demands of the situation. Proof of that came when he roared back after dropping the first game.

Suddenly, Ghosal was everywhere, dashing to the front for near impossible drop shots or racing back to almost crash on to the glass back for long returns. In short, Ritwik suddenly found the court too small for placements. He also started to make errors, either missing the wall for the tin or failing to reach the power-packed cross-court drives.

Added to that, Ghosal began to thrive during the rallies. During this phase, his wristy efforts were a delight to watch. Taking a handy lead in each of the next three games, Ghosal grabbed the initiative, worked his way to glory and his third title in the PSA tour.

Not consistent

In the WISPA final, all Dipika needed to do was pick a leaf out of Ghosal’s book. Good friends off the court, Ghosal’s advice clearly failed to pep up the 16-year-old.

Dipika has the game, drives the forehand shots well and her wristy deceptions often catch her opponents on the wrong foot. Annie also fell prey to that. However, consistency was the need of the hour and it was Annie who produced a steady display.

Dipika’s front court efforts never inspired. She could still have made up for that with a clear strategy of exploiting Annie’s weak backhand.

As it happened, Dipika twice failed despite showing touches of excellence. She led 8-0 in the second before losing 8-10 and then in the next trailed 2-6, was on game-ball at 8-7 to once again lose her way.

For Annie, her first final of the season provided a memorable finish while Dipika had to be satisfied with her first entry into the final in her young WISPA career.

The Secretary-General of SRFI, N. Ramachandran, gave away the prizes.

The result (finals):

PSA: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6.

WISPA: Annie Au (Hkg) bt Dipika Pallikal (Ind) 9-3, 10-8, 10-8.

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