India’s Ramit Tandon scored a big upset as the men’s qualifying got under way at the $150, 000 Tournament of Champions in New York on Tuesday. The Columbia University graduate, who is ranked at 255th, stunned the World No. 22 Ali Farag of Egypt, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8 to secure his place in the second round of qualifying.
However, Tandon’s compatriots did not enjoy the same fortune as none of the other two Indians managed to win on Tuesday. While the former national champion Harinder Pal Sandhu lost 14-12, 7-11, 6-11, 5-11 to the World No. 24 Alfredo Avila, the USA-based Supreet Singh bowed out 7-11, 7-11, 2-11 to the top seed Adrian Waller.
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It was a mature performance from the 23-year-old Kolkata-born Tandon against a very familiar opponent. Farag, a 2013 Harvard University graduate, had played the Indian at the 2012 College Squash Nationals final.
It was thus no doubt that this match would go on to become a very competitive one. Farag had arrived in New York fresh from his back-to-back quarter-final appearances at the Qatar Classic and the World Championships and he jumped out to an 11-4 lead pretty early.
But Tandon put up a brilliant show of resilience from thereon and captured the next two games. Even though he did blip in the fourth game, he once again had the upper hand in the decider.
He raced away to a four-point advantage early on in the fifth game that would eventually prove costly for the Egyptian. Farag fought back and closed in but Tandon succeeded in wrapping up the match after 71 minutes.
The Indian will next face 163rd ranked South African Clinton Leeuw for a berth in the main draw.
The men’s main draw begins on January 7.
