It was a good day in office for the two Indians in the fray as second seed Saurav Ghosal and qualifier Harinder Pal Sandhu both won their first round matches and entered the quarterfinals of the Macau Open PSA world tour squash event here today.
Interestingly, the two Indians face each other in the last eight stage of the USD 50,000 event.
Saurav won in quick time against qualifier Elvinn Keo of Malaysia in straight games 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 but the man who demanded attention was Harinder.
Harinder 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 Harinder 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 the 48-minute tussle.
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