China Open : Saurav Ghosal Goes Down to Gregory Gaultier

Saurav Ghosal is currently India’s highest ranked squash player

India No. 1 Saurav Ghosal who qualified for the $100k PSA event China Open, went down to the World No. 3 Gregory Gaultier in the first round on Thursday. The 29-year-old fought hard for the first two games but could not prevent the former top-ranked Gaultier from claiming the 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 victory in 45 minutes.

Saurav, who recently equalled his career-best ranking of 15, will now turn his attention to the JSW Indian Squash Circuit being played at home. He will be playing at the CCI International (8-13 September) and the Kolkata International (22-27 September).

Ghosal, who has been on a great run lately having reached the finals of both the HKFC International and the Abierto Colombiano, has a grand opportunity of breaking into the top 10 for the first time if he can clinch both the titles.

World No. 1 exits in first round

Among other first round results at the China Open on Thursday, there were four upsets as seeds kept tumbling in Shanghai. The biggest of these shock results was the departure of the top seed and World No. 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy who lost 14-12, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11 to Hong Kong player Max Lee.

33rd ranked qualifier Leo Au of Hong Kong also dealt a blow to the third-seeded German Simon Rosner who went down 11-9, 3-11, 3-11, 8-11. Another qualifier stole the show as British player Tom Richards stunned his compatriot and eighth-ranked Peter Barker 14-12, 11-5, 11-3.

In a mini-upset, 12th-ranked Marwan Elshorbagy, the younger brother of the World No. 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy, beat the tenth-ranked Tarek Momen 11-8, 14-12, 11-8.