Saurav Ghosal Qualifies for China Open

India’s top-ranked squash player Saurav Ghosal in the foreground (file photo)

India No. 1 Saurav Ghosal put up a brilliant performance to qualify for the $100k PSA event China Open in Shanghai on Wednesday. Ghosal took 40 minutes to outlast the 31st ranked Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 in the final round of qualifying.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian squash ace beat China’s Junjie Wang 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 in 20 minutes in the first round of qualifying.

Ghosal faces Gaultier

Saurav now faces World No. 3 Gregory Gaultier of France in the first round of the main draw to be played on Thursday. Their last meeting at the professional level was a cracker in which Ghosal went down in five games in the first round of the 2014 El Gouna International.

Ghosal is currently enjoying a rich vein of form, having reached back-to-back finals at the HKFC International and the Abierto Colombiano in addition reclaiming the Indian National title. The run has seen him equal his career-best ranking of 15 in the new PSA World Rankings released on September 1.

It will be interesting to see if the newfound confidence can help the Indian player turn the tables against the former World No. 1 Gaultier.

Meanwhile, there was a huge upset in the China Open qualifiers as the defending champion James Willstrop crashed out in the final round. The former top-ranked player, who has been struggling since a hip surgery, succumbed to Hong Kong’s Leo Au 5-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, 5-11 in a marathon 67-minute contest.