Nathan Lake of England gave Saurav Ghosal a bit of scare before the Indian ace took control from the second game to post a 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 and advance to the quarterfinals of the JSW Indian Squash Circuit Kolkata International here today.
"I've not played him ever before... Had a little bit of trouble to see what his game was all about. He played some really good stuff at the beginning of the match. After the first game, I was more in control. It's good to win 3-0. Hopefully I'll play better tomorrow and as the tournament goes on," Ghosal said after his 47-minute battle.
It will be an all Indian challenge in the quarterfinals as Ghosal will face India number two Mahesh Mangaonkar who overcame a stiff challenge from 2014 national champion Harinderpal Singh Sandhu before posting a hard fought 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 win in one hour 15 minutes.
Ghosal and Mangaonkar are the two Indians left in the fray as wild card after promising youngster Ramit Tandon lost to Chirs Simpson of England 11-9, 15-13, 11-7 in 61 minutes.
"It was really, really tough," Simpson said. "He's got quite outstanding racket work. It made me feel very nervous because I never knew what shot I was going to play. To be honest, I felt like I was running all over, while he stayed on the T. But I played the big points well in the first and second games, and that was crucial."
The other Indian in the fray, Kush Kumar lost to Zahed Mohamed of Egypt 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 in a one-sided affair.
Meanwhile, top seed Marwan Elshorbagy of Egypt cruised past Sanjay Singh Chal of Malaysia 12-14, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 in 39 minutes to set up a quarterfinals battle against Rex Hedrick of Australia.
