Macau Open: Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu progress

Harinder Pal Sandhu qualified after two tight rounds where he beat Tang Ming Honk of Hong Kong 11-5, 9-11, 11-9,13-11 in the first round and then edged out Taipei player James Huang 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11,11-8 in the next.

Second seed Saurav Ghosal won in quick time against a qualifier Elvinn Keo of Malaysia in straight games 11-7, 11-5, 11-7.

It was a great day for the two Indians in the fray, second seed Saurav Ghosal and qualifier Harinder Pal Sandhu as both won their first round and entered the quarterfinal of the $50,000 Macau Open, a PSA world tour event here on Thursday. Interestingly the two now face each other in the last eight.

Saurav in keeping with his status won in quick time against a qualifier Elvinn Keo of Malaysia in straight games 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 but the man who demanded attention was Harinder. He had qualified after two tight rounds where he beat Tang Ming Honk of Hong Kong 11-5, 9-11, 11-9,13-11 in the first round and then edged out Taipei player James Huang 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11,11-8 in the next.

Thereafter his slot in the main draw was against sixth seeded Nicolas Mueller of Switzerland. The heavy odds against him, did not bother the Indian as he gave his all with a positive approach. What stood him in good stead was his early enterprise in all the games when he established a lead. Still, as he said after the match, “It was a grind from point 8 onwards.” Harinder won 11-8, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8 in this 48 minute tussle.