Ghosal keeps Indian hopes allives; enter semis

Chennai: Fourth seed Saurav Ghosal kept Indian hopes alive storming into the semifinal of the PSA Chennai Open 2010 quelling a fighting Chris Simpson of England 3-1 here on Friday.

Despite suffering from a niggling back problem, Ghosal was focussed to get past the sixth seeded Simpson 11-7 11-7 11-13 11-7 in 64 minutes at the state-of-the-art Indian Squash Academy this evening. Ghosal, ranked 29 in the world, plays second seeded Jonathan Kemp of England, while top seeded Malaysian, Ong Beng Hee, take on third seeded Mohd.Ali Reda in the semifinals on Saturday evening. The WISPA Chennai Open 2010 semifinals will be between World Champion and top seed Nicol David and seventh seed Australian Kasey Brown and Jenny Duncalf of England, seeded second, versus Rachael Grinham, third seeded Australian. Nicol David trailed 2-6 in the third game and had to exert every sinew to arrest the upper hand of Haweks, who was seen returning every ball with finesse. Once, David upped herself to the challenge, the top seed had her own felicity to run up to an easy win. In the Ghosal-Simpson tie, the Indian looked to achieve a straight forward 3-0 win, excepting in the third game where Simpson gained points from almost all rallies. Ghosal enjoyed superiority in all other games. In the third game, rivals were on level at 9-9 and Ghosal broke the ice leading 10-9. Here, Simpson made it 11-10 with a boast from the back and then claimed the remaining two points for the game. Hee defeated Yann Perrin (7th seed) of France 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 in 41 minutes, while Reda, who dropped the first game, went on to win the next three to gain a 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 win over eighth seed Alan Clyne of Scotland. PTI