The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Ghosal storms into final

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Sunday, Sep 14, 2008
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Ghosal storms into final

CHENNAI: Indian national champion Saurav Ghosal scored his second successive upset in the Ornano International Open to reach the final of the inaugural $15,000 PSA Tour event in Bordeaux, France.

The Kolkata-born 22-year-old made his presence felt in the quarterfinals when he toppled the top seed Renan Lavigne in four games to dash the local’s hopes in the event.

In the semifinals, the sixth-seeded Ghosal faced Egyptian Amr Swelim, the fifth seed. The contest turned out to be a marathon encounter that lasted 74 minutes before Ghosal survived a fifth game tie-break to win 10-12, 11-2, 11-2, 3-11, 14-12.

This is the Indian’s sixth appearance in a PSA Tour final and he takes on the third seed Italian Davide Bianchetti. The latter outplayed Bradley Hindle, the eighth seed from Australia, 11-8, 11-9, 11-4 in the other semifinal.

Bianchetti, the world No. 30 from Brescia, is making his 18th Tour final appearance and this will be his first meeting with Ghosal in more than two years.

Ritwik loses

Another Indian, Ritwik Bhattacharya, fell to Bianthetti in straight games in the quarterfinals.

The results: Semifinals: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Amr Swelim (Egy) 10-12, 11-2, 11-2, 3-11, 14-12; Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt Bradley Hindle (Aus) 11-8, 11-9, 11-4.

Quarterfinals: Ghosal bt Renan Lavigne (Fra) 7-11, 15-13, 11-5, 11-5; Swelim bt Julien Balbo (Fra) 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5; Bianchetti bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) 11-8, 11-3, 11-8; Hindle bt Joey Barrington (Eng) 11-9, 13-11, 11-9.

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