Top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya and No2 seed Saurav Ghosal set up a dream all-Indian final of the Otters Open Squash Championship following convincing semi-final wins in the new PSA Tour event at Otters Club in the Indian city of Mumbai.

 

Bhattacharya, the world No 43 from New Delhi, put behind him the loss of the opening game to overcome England's fifth seed Darren Lewis 9-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 in 35 minutes.

Lewis, from Leicester and ranked almost 100 places lower than his opponent, got off to a dream start by taking the first game.  But the Indian ace found his shots in the second and quickly got into the groove to take command.

"Darren played a lot better and came out strong at the start," explained Bhattacharya.  "He has a solid game and he played some good shots.  But by the second game I got my shots and took it from there."

Lewis added:  "I tried attacking and played a quick first game.  But Ritwik speeded up the tempo in the second, which put me under pressure.  I tried to slow it down but he volleyed well.  He was too quick for me today."

Saurav Ghosal, ranked 59 in the world, took just 25 minutes to demolish Malaysia's Timothy Arnold 11-1, 11-6, 11-3 in the other semi-final.  The UK-based 20-year-old is celebrating his third appearance in a PSA Tour final - but is not only looking for his first title win, but his maiden PSA victory over Bhattacharya.

By contrast, favourite Bhattacharya approaches his seventh PSA final with the impressive record of having been unbeaten in the previous six!


RESULTS:        Otters Open Squash Championship, Mumbai, India

Semi-finals:
[1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt [5] Darren Lewis (ENG)             9-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-6
[2] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [3] Timothy Arnold (MAS)                  11-1, 11-6, 11-3