Surrey (UK): It was mixed fortune for the three leading Indian professionals in the PSA circuit. While Saurav Ghosal had moments to relish having reached the semi-final after starting as a qualifier in the $ 100,000 Channel VAS Championship being held here, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal exited in the first round itself from the $50,000 Carol Weymuller Open away in New York.
After two rounds of tough qualifying phase matches, Ghosal showed his mettle by dislodging the third seed Marwan Elshorbagy of Egypt in the first round 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 to reach the milestone of 200 match wins in the PSA circuit. This Egyptian did not pose much of a problem but in the next round, the Indian had a tough customer in another Egyptian , the eighth seeded Mohamed Abouelghar. Ghosal came back from being 1-2 in game scores at one stage to convert the 68 minute in his favour with some shrewd control over the pace of the match. The Indian won 11-9, 5-11, 8-11,11-3, 11-8 to get ready for another Egyptian, this time the top seed Mohamed Elshorbagy in the last four.
However in the US, the two grand ladies of Indian squash, Joshna and Dipika succumbed to their Egyptian opponents. Dipika was unlucky to get pitted against the second seed Raneem El Welily in the very first round and it was 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 defeat. Sixth seeded Joshna however faced a tough fight against Salma Hany and as it happened lost to the latter for the first time in seven meetings. Salma won 9-11, 13-11, 14-16, 11-5, 12-10.
