Saurav Ghosal fails to cross final hurdle at CCI Open Squash Championships

Mumbai: National Champion Saurav Ghosal, world no. 15, went down without putting up too much of a fight to Spaniard Borja Golan in the final of the USD 35,000 CCI Open Squash Championships here on Sunday.

In the battle between the two top seeds, no.1 seed Golan outsmarted the Indian national champion, seeded second, 11-6 11-4 10-12 11-5 in the best-of-five match at the Cricket Club of India to clinch the crown in the second tournament of the four-legged JSW Indian Squash Circuit 2015.

It was the first PSA Tour title-win this year for the 32-year-old 13-time Spanish national champion, ranked 13th in the world, whose previous best of the season was a runner-up spot in the European individual championships in May.

The Spaniard was clearly the better player on the day as he hit 30 winners to the 10-time Indian national champion's modest tally of 12.

The only time the Indian seemed to be in with a chance was in the third game when the Spaniard lapsed into errors, but otherwise it was smooth sailing for the top-seeded Golan.

The third leg of the circuit is scheduled next week in Kolkata, another USD 35,000 prize money tournament for men.

After clinching the first two games quite easily, Ghosal played a fine shot at 5-6 in the third after a long rally. Golan led 9-8 but committed an error which gave Ghosal the chance to pull it off over extra points and prolong the match.

But the fourth saw Golan back in control. Up 7-4 the Spaniard made a spectacular between-the-leg shot for the point, to show he was back in control and then surged to the title in 68 minutes.

"He was very sharp today. I couldn't get him into uncomfortable positions for long enough to do what I wanted. Credit to Borja, he played well. I had two hard matches this week, but, you know, that's what you train for. I just couldn't play well enough, for long enough, to beat him. Congrats to him," said Ghosal after his loss.

"The last final I played was in 2013. I haven't won a title in two years," Golan said.

"I thought the final would be very difficult. I knew I'd have to play my best squash to beat Saurav. He has had a tougher week. And I think maybe that was the difference today. Mentally, he was a bit more tired from the days before and maybe I took advantage of that," he said.