All Indian men's final, Deepika in title clash, Joshna loses

Chennai, Jul 5 (UNI) It will be an all Indian final in the men's PSA event, while Deepika Pallikal will be the lone title hope in the women's WISPA event in the ICl Chennai Open squash tournament here tonight.

In the semifinals, Deepika's dream run continued as Chennai last entered the final of the 8,000 dollar with a 10-8, 7-9, 9-5, 9-1 win over Orla Noom (NED) to enter the summit clash.

Playing with confidence, Dipeeka moved higher ranked Orla to her backhand front on numerous occasions to win crucial points and take the advantage. Although Orla leveled the match at 1-1 Deepika played a 18 min game to win the crucial third game 9-5 and won the fourth convincingly. Annie Au will meet Deepika in her first tour final when she defeated second seeded Joshana in four games.

In the PSA event Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) had Saurav worried in the first two games as he kept pace and picked whatever Saurav threw at him.

Down 0-2 Saurav had to work very hard and clawed back to level the match at 2-2. The 84 min duel saw Saurav prevail in the end with a gutsy effort from both players.

Mohd Reda looking to retain his last years title looked like going through easily when leading 2-0. Ritwik came back strong playing some exceptional drops to book his place in the final after an enthralling five set victory.

Results: Men's semi-final: Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 10-12, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7; Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 10-12, 7-11, 12-10,11-7, 11-8.

Women's semi-final: Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt Orla Noom (NED) 10-8, 7-9, 9-5, 9-1 Annie Au (HKG) bt Joshna Chinappa (IND) 10-9, 9-1, 5-9, 10-9 UNI GV LPB CS2242