Ghosal to meet Mueller in Vedanta final

Saurav Ghosal defeated Scotland’s Greg Lobban 11-8, 13-11, 11-6 to advance to the final of the Vedanta Indian Open Squash.

Saurav Ghosal will lock horns with Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller in the final of the Vedanta Indian Open Squash on Sunday.

India’s top squash player Saurav Ghosal held his nerves for 54 minutes to defeat Scotland’s Greg Lobban 11-8, 13-11, 11-6 in a pulsating semifinal of the $ 35,000 Vedanta Indian Open Squash 2018 at the National Sports Club of India courts here on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Ghosal will lock horns with Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller in the final on Sunday. The 28-year-old Mueller who has won the Swiss national championship for a 11 years without a break (the last one in 2017), beat England’s Chris Simpson 3-1 in 54 minutes. After clinching a well-contested semifinal, Ghosal said, "Greg is a very accomplished player. I think he has done very well in the last few years. He’s done very well post his injury last summer. It’s not easy to come back and play so well so quickly. I watched a little bit of the way he played with Harry (Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu) yesterday and I had a plan for today’s semis and I executed that plan.

"Credit to Greg, he is a good player and puts you under pressure; it’s difficult, but winning 3-0 against someone of the pedigree of Greg is a good result any day of the week and so I take that and hopefully will play well tomorrow.’’

Results (semifinals): Saurav Ghosal bt Greg Lobban (Scotland) 11-8, 13-11, 11-6; Nicolas Mueller (Sui) by Chris Simpson (England)  9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-4.