World no 15 and top seed Saurav Ghosal set up a title clash with second seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu after the two players fashioned hard-fought semi finals victories in the 38th Bombay Gymkhana-HSBC Maharashtra State Open Senior Squash Championship here today.
Ghosal, who has shifted to his home city Kolkata after eight years' stay in England and became the first Indian male to make the world championships quarter finals in Manchester, was given a bit of a scare by local player Aditya Jagtap before coming up with a 11-5 11-6 11-13 11-4 win.
The 27-year-old title favourite also overcame a minor hand injury to end the brave challenge put up by his younger rival.
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World no. 80 Sandhu also endured a stiff challenge from sparring partner at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai -- third seed and India no. 4 Ravi Dixit -- before snatching an exciting 11-6 12-10 13-11 victory to move into final.
"Ravi played really well. It was a good test for me before meeting Saurav. I have never beaten Saurav, so I will make an attempt to do so in the final," said Sandhu.
Women's top seed and world No. 26 Joshna Chinappa remained on course to defend her title with a straight-game (11-9 11-5 11-6) win over Nikita Joshi of suburban Otters Club.
Joshna would take on surprise finalist Aishwarya Bhattacharya who shocked second seed and last year's runner-up Urwashi Joshi of Jindal Squash Academy 11-9 8-11 11-9 11-9 in an engrossing semi-final.
Other results (semi finals): Professionals: Sanjay Pawar bt Manish Chavan 11-6 11-9 11-7; Rohit Kadam bt Sachin Jadhav 11-1 11-6 11-8.
