New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) Saurav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh, both representing Tamil Nadu, reached the Open final with contrasting victories in the Senior National Squash Championships at the Delhi Gymkhana here Saturday.
While Ghosal, the reigning national champion, brushed aside Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi in three straight games, Harinder was involved in yet another marathon, 102-minute encounter before overcoming Siddharth Suchde 3-2.

Meanwhile, the women’s final too will be an all-Tamil Nadu affair with seven times champion Joshna Chinappa taking on 15-year-old schoolgirl Anaka Alankamony.

Joshna scored a straightforward 3-0 win over Aparajita Balamukuran, also from Chennai, while Anaka came up with an impressive performance to defeat Saumya Karki of Maharashtra 3-1.

It will be Anaka’s maiden appearance in the national final and Saturday’s victory avenged her defeat to Saumya in the junior national final.

The Harinder-Suchde tie went the distance with two of the five games going to tie-breaker. While Suchde had his chances in each of the games, especially in the decider where he led 7-3, Harinder showed greater determination to hang in there and eventually pull through.

There was little to separate the two and true to expectations, the contest went the distance as it had in a recent Challenger tournament in Chennai when Harinder had won by a similar margin in a match that lasted 111 minutes.

Suchde displayed better control over his shots, but the lack of consistency in his game went against him. In contrast, Harinder fought his way through despite being pegged in the backcourt and profited on his opponent’s errors.

The results:

Open (Semi-finals): Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (DEL) 11-4 11-2 11-5; Harinder Pal Singh (TN) bt Siddharth Suchde (MAH) 6-11 11-9 12-10 13-15 11-8.

For 5-8 Places: Sandeep Jangra (SSB) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 11-7 11-6 8-11 11-7.

PRO (Semi-finals): Ayappan Parthiban (TN) bt Vijay Jangra (RAJ) 11-1 11-4 11-5; Bhaskar Balamurgan (TN) bt Shakir Hussain (DEL) 11-8 11-7 11-7.

Women (Semi-finals): Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Aparajita Balamurkan (TN) 11-5 11-5 11-5; Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Saumya Karki (Maharashtra) 11-6 11-8 7-11 11-3.

For 5-8 Places: Pankhuri Malhotra (DEL) w/o Nandini Agarwal (UP); Sachika Ingale (DEL) bt Shria Khatri (Maharashtra) 8-11 11-9 8-11 11-7 11-3.