Saurav beats Ritwik to reach semis, Joshna crashes out

Doha, Dec 12 (UNI) India's best bet in women's section Joshna Chinappa crashed out losing her quarterfinal match in straight sets, while national champion Saurav Ghosal got the better of compatriot Ritwik Bhattacharya 3-1 to breeze into the men's semifinal of the squash competition in the 15th Asian Games here today.

Reigning national champion Saurav beat Ritwik 9-4, 9-0, 6-9, 9-7 to book his berth in the last four stage, while Wing Yin Chiu of Hong Kong blanked Joshna 9-3, 9-1, 9-2 in the women's quarterfinals at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

In the all-India quarterfinal beteen Ritwik and Sourav, one had to go and it turned out to be the former who crashed out with a 1-3 defeat in one hour and three minutes.

World number 44 Ritwik struggled right from the beginning against his younger compatriot, who is ranked five rungs below him.

Saurav, on the other hand, seemed to have worked out Ritwik and the latter, country's highest ranked player with six Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour titles against his name, never looked intimidating.

Ritwik was slow in his movement and lost the first set 4-9. Some expected it to jolt him out of the inertia but Ritwik remained off-colour and Saurav's domination could be gauged from the 9-0 scoreline in the second set.

Pushed to the brink, Ritwik finally showed glimpse of his class and put up an improved show with some drop shots at crucial junctures to win the third set 9-6 and keep the match alive.

The fourth set turned out to be a see-saw battle before Saurav, first Indian ever to win the coveted British Junior Open U-19 Squash title, outran his senior compatriot to win the set 9-7 and seal the issue.

On the other hand, much was expected from world number 42 Joshna and her training in Egypt had further raised the expectations. But all came to a naught today with the Chennai girl faltering against her opponent from Hong Kong.

Nimble-footed Wing dominated the T and mixed her shots well to outplay Joshna and the Indian could garner only six points in the entire match, which lasted just 17 minutes.

UNI HSB AY PDS BD2001