Top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya of Delhi and defending champion Saurav Ghosal of Tamil Nadu posted fluent semi-finals victories to set up a title clash in the 53rd Senior National and 30th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Squash Championships 2005, at the Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday.
The championship is co-sponsored by Westside, Lee, ICICI Lombard, Godrej and Lipton.
Bhattacharya, ranked No. 59 in the world, took just 50 minutes to demolish third seed Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi 1-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-3, while Ghosal sailed into the final in similar fashion following an emphatic 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 victory over compatriot Harinderpal Singh.
The supremely confident Bhattacharya emphasised that the loss of the opening game was a warm-up rather than a serious blemish as he toyed with the inhibited Nandrajog. Overawed by his much-accomplished opponent's presence, Nandrajog was forced to tread a cautious path.
It worked in Bhattacharya's favour though, as he delighted with some stunning boasts and nicks that left Nandrajog stranded on more occasions than one.
Women's top seed Joshna Chinappa of Tamil Nadu expectedly breezed past No. 4 Surbhi Misra of Rajasthan 9-3, 9-3, 9-3, while second seed Dr. Deepali Anwekar-Parikh of Maharashtra received a golden opportunity to avenge her defeat at last week's CCI-Western India Open following a convincing 9-3, 9-1, 9-2 demolition of giant-killer Shivangi Paranjpe in the second semi-final.
Sachika Balwani was the toast of the Maharashtra State Open on the penultimate day of the competition after entering the girls' under-13 and under-15 finals in contrasting fashion.
Boys' under-9 second seed Aditya Khatri rallied to a thrilling 10-9, 7-9, 1-9, 10-9, 9-7 win over a spirited Yohan Pandole to set up a championship clash with top seed Kunj Rawani.
Results (All semi-finals):
Senior Nationals:
Men: Ritwik Bhattacharya (Del) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Del) 1-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-3; Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Harinderpal Singh (TN) 9-2, 9-3, 9-0.
Women: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Surbhi Mishra (Raj) 9-3, 9-3, 9-3; Deepali Parikh (Mah) bt Shivangi Paranjpe (Mah) 9-3, 9-1, 9-2.
Professionals: B. Balamurugan (TN) bt Rohit More (Mah) 9-2, 9-2, 9-2; Dalip Tripathi (WB) bt Vijay M. Sonawane (Mah) 9-2, 9-1, 9-5.
Maharashtra State Open:
Boys' U-19: Sandeep Jangra (Mah) bt Naresh Kumar (Del) 9-6, 9-3, 9-1; A. Parthiban (TN) bt Manek Mathur (Mah) 9-8, 9-0, 9-0.
Boys' U-17: Harinderpal Singh (TN) bt Parth Sharma (TN) 10-8, 9-4, 7-9, 9-6; Vikram Malhotra bt Naishad Lalwani 9-6, 10-8, 10-9.
Boys' U-15: Ravi Dixit (Del) bt Aakash Borwankar 9-1, 9-1, 9-6; Amay Merchant bt Aditya Gupta 4-9, 9-1, 9-7, 6-9, 9-7.
Boys' U-13: Abhishek Pradhan bt Aakash Borwankar 10-8, 9-3, 9-5; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Rohan A. Vora 9-0, 9-5, 9-2.
Boys' U-11: Ishaan Advani bt Raghav Mehrotra 9-0, 9-5, 9-1; Arjun Kochhar bt Aviroop Ghosal 9-2, 9-1, 9-5.
Boys' U-9: Kunj Rawani bt Arman Kothari 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Aditya Khatri bt Yohan Pandole (Mah) 10-9, 7-9, 1-9, 10-9, 9-7.
Girls' U-19: Anwesha Reddy (TN) bt Shahnaz Dastur 9-1, 9-2, 9-6; Madhura Paranjpe bt Avani Shetty 9-3, 9-1, 9-0.
Girls' U-17: Surbhi Mishra (Raj) bt Shaheen Madraswala 9-2, 9-2, 9-2; Shivangi Paranjpe bt Harita Omprakash (TN) 9-10, 9-3, 9-4, 9-1.
Girls' U-15: Saumya Karki bt Shaheen Madraswala 9-4, 5-9, 6-9, 9-6, 9-5; Sachika Balwani (Mah) bt Ankita Sharma (Mah) 1-9, 9-7, 9-6, 6-9, 9-3.
Girls' U-13: Sachika Balwani bt Shria Khatri 9-6, 6-9, 9-6, 9-0; Ankita Sharma bt Saumya Karki 9-2, 7-9, 9-4, 0-9, 9-2.
Girls' U-11: Lakshaya Raghavan (TN) bt Nandini Agarwal (Goa) 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Aishwarya Kulkarni bt Nandini Mullaji 9-5, 9-4, 9-7.