National champion Mahesh Mangaonkar was knocked out of the USD 70,000 CCI International JSW Indian Squash Circuit by former world number one James Willstrop of England here Thursday.
World no. 66 Mangaonkar gave Willstrop, seeded fifth in the tournament with a current world ranking of 16, some tough time before going down in the quarter-finals in four games, 3-11, 16-18, 11-8, 9-11 after a prolonged fight for supremacy lasting 67 minutes.
Mangaonkar's exit meant that only 26-year-old former junior national champion Ramit Tandon from India is left in the semi-final draw.
Tandon, ranked 68th in the world, entered the last four for the second successive time in the PSA event when defending champion and world no. 12 Saurav Ghosal pulled out from their quarter-final match due to a calf injury that he had sustained Wednesday.
The third-seeded former multiple-time national champion and the tournaments third seed had secured a 3-1 win over Egypts Mohamed Reda on way to the last eight Wednesday night.
But the victory became bitter-sweet as Ghosal couldnt continue in the tournament and withdrew from the draw.
The Kolkata-based Tandon thus gained a walkover and a place in the semi-finals andagainst the no. 1 seed Tarek Momen of Egypt.
Momen, the world no. 4, quelled the strong challenge from Spains Iker Pajares Bernabeu after a 65-minute battle. The former won 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 in the quarter-final.
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