Saurav Ghosal, trailing 5-8 in the fifth and final game, showed courage and skill to outlast Nicolas Mueller of Switzerland 11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10 in the final of the Vedanta Indian Open squash tournament at NSCI on Sunday.
The 31-year-old top seed clinched five points in a row to be on match ball at 10-8, but Mueller won two points to keep the spectators on the edge of their seats. Ghosal, however, took the last two points to emerge champion in their 67-minute duel.
Two years ago, Mueller had recovered from a two-game deficit to down Ghosal in a Challenger quarterfinal at the Cricket Club of India. Currently ranked 24th in the PSA list, Mueller had recently registered the biggest win of his career, beating Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad in the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York. Ghosal had lost to Gawad in the third round of the World championship in England.
“I have been watching him the whole week. He was in superb form. Even if I was off my gameplan for five minutes, he was taking advantage. He countered the tough balls so well. It is not that I played badly to be 1-2 down. He played the crucial points better.
“I tried to be more precise than what I was trying to do. I don’t think I made errors in the fifth... he just hit the winners. After 5-8, I struck a good patch. I got the length and width the way I wanted them. Thankfully for me, it happened at the right time. I did something special, but to win 12-10 in the end showed that it was anyone’s match,” said Ghosal.
The result (final): Saurav Ghosal bt Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10.