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Third seed Saurav Ghosal put up a brilliant display on home turf to capture his first title of the season at the US$35k Kolkata International on Sunday. The World No. 15 who has lost three PSA finals this year, was fourth time lucky as he cruised to an 11-7, 11-2, 11-7 win over top seed Marwan El Shorbagy.
Dominant display from Ghosal
The 222-year-old Calcutta Racket Club was packed with squash enthusiasts who were there to cheer for home favourite Ghosal. And the India No. 1 did not disappoint.
He was right on target from the start, restricting the Egyptian World No. 12 from playing his usual game. El Shorbagy kept up the fight till 6-6 in the opening game after which he fell apart as Saurav’s pace picked up. Ghosal also impressed with some fluid footwork and excellent retrievals.
The Kolkata lad grabbed the first game 11-7.
Marwan El Shorbagy began the second game with a great burst of speed but Ghosal smartly absorbed his pace and edged ahead by virtue of some skilful drops. As the confident Indian surged ahead 7-0, the Egyptian’s game became more and more error-ridden. The Indian ace clinched the second game 11-2.
The third game was no different. Ghosal was very sharp and did not give any room to his higher-ranked rival, who looked out of sorts. With a tight and error-free display, Ghosal captured the title in 43 minutes. He did not drop a game all week.
This is the Indian’s first $35,000 victory.
An elated Ghosal said after the win, “I am super happy to win this title. It’s good to finally win one after losing three finals this year. I am pretty sad that I could not win in Bombay, but happy that I could do it here.”
Winning at home surely made it a memorable victory and Ghosal too admitted it. “Winning at the place where I have trained makes it very special.”
Commenting on his biggest tournament victory so far, the Kolkata-based player said, ”It’s very hard to win a PSA title. This is the biggest tournament win I have ever had. I am glad that I managed to beat two top-15 players back-to-back this week.”
Ghosal’s next tournament is the $150,000 US Open, beginning October 8.
