A day after Joshna Chinappa’s disappointing first round exit, Saurav Ghosal brought joy to the Indian squash fans by advancing to the second round of the Allam British Open 2016 at the Airco Arena in Hull, England. The India No. 1 upset the eighth seed and World No. 10 Mathieu Castagnet 11/6, 8/11, 12/10, 11/6 in this first round encounter on Tuesday that lasted for 66 minutes.
Ghosal will next lock horns with the World No. 11 Marwan Elshorbagy on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals. It will be a rematch of September’s Kolkata International final where the Indian triumphed in straight games.
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The French National champion Castagnet was in impeccable form coming into this prestigious PSA World Series event, often dubbed as the ‘Wimbledon of squash’. He had won the $70, 000 Canary Wharf Classic just a few days back and was expected to make it tough for the 19th ranked Saurav.
But Ghosal, who returned to the Tour in February after an injury-induced hiatus, was accurate with his strokes right from the start and did not give any room to the Frenchman. He quickly grabbed the first game 11-6 to have the early advantage.
Castagnet, however, soon levelled the match by pocketing the second game 11-8 through a series of winners. The undeterred Ghosal then managed to hold his nerves and edge past his higher-ranked rival in a tight third game 12-10.
He rode on the momentum to take the next game as well and complete the upset.
Earlier on Monday, India’s highest-ranked women’s player Joshna Chinappa had crashed out in four games, making Saurav the last Indian standing at the British Open.
