Tournament of Champions: Ghosal and Joshna in pre-quarters

India’s top two players Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa have moved into the pre-quarterfinal round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, a PSA world tour platinum event here late on Sunday.

Both players had a first-round bye in their respective sections. In the second round, Ghosal had a task in hand in getting past Cesar Salazar of Mexico with the match going five games after the Indian had led 2-0 in a game score at one stage.

Ghosal won 11-2, 12-10, 5-11,8-11,11-9, the match stretching to 73 minutes. In the pre-quarterfinal, Ghosal is set to play the sixth-seeded German Simon Rosner.

In contrast, Joshna, seeded 12 in the women’s section had a comfortable win over Tinne Gills of Netherlands. Joshna won 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 and will face the 6th seeded New Zealander Joelle King.

Two other Indians who had taken part in the tournament, Ramit Tandon and Mahesh Mangaonkar went out in the first round.