Philadelphia (US), Sep 29 (IANS) India’s Saurav Ghosal and Siddharth Suchde entered the second round of the qualifying tournament in the PSA US Open squash championship here.
Suchde recovered from 0-6 down in the first game to beat local entrant Jamie MacAulay 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 in 42 minutes as the Scottish International, now based in nearby Fairmount, tired Wednesday.
‘It wasn’t the greatest of starts,’ admitted Suchde who studied at Edinburgh University with MacAulay. ‘I was probably too relaxed and a bit complacent, but he surprised me and played really well at the start, getting everything right.’
Suchde, the world No.75 from Mumbai, now faces Nicolas Mueller, the Swiss No.1 who beat Malaysian Kamran Khan 11-6, 11-6, 11-8.
‘Tomorrow will be a really tough match,’ continued Suchde. ‘I have to make sure I’m ready right from the start!’
The 25-year old Ghosal, World No.26 and the top seed in the qualifying rounds, overcame former World No.1 John White, currently the head coach at Drexel, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 in 36 minutes.
The audience had swelled as many of White’s admirers and students strained to watch, and he made a good enough start, catching the young Indian out with the power of his shots and his ability to kill the ball especially in the front right corner of the court and taking an 8-6 lead in the opening game.
Cries of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ followed winning points from White, the Australian who represented Scotland before moving to coach in the US four years ago.
As the match wore on, Ghosal, whose speed around court drew admiring gasps from the audience, became more and able to counter White’s shot-making, and after taking the first game 11-8 courtesy of a series of White errors, took the next two.
‘He’s a speedy boy,’ said 38-year-old White of his opponent. ‘He gets everything back and it’s hard to find a way past when you haven’t played in that standard of match for a while. I enjoyed it though, it was a good match and fun for the crowd, hopefully they’ll all be back for the rest of the tournament over the next few days.’
Ghosal, the highest-ranked Indian of all-time, said: ‘I played John once before, when he was still on tour. So I knew what I was going to get. He hits the ball so hard, especially on the forehand, and you have no idea where it’s going.
‘I tried to keep it on the backhand but he found winners from elsewhere, so I just had to try to get the ball straight and as tight as I could.
‘I’m pleased to get off 3/0. He’s the draw nobody wanted but I was really looking forward to playing him, he’s such a fair player and a crowd pleaser – I always tell the kids in India if you want someone to look up to and emulate, John White is the one to look at.’
