Sandhu Survives Marathon Quarter In Chennai

In a dramatic match featuring one of the longest tie-break games on record, fourth seed Harinder Pal Sandhu fought back from 2/1 down to beat Indian compatriot Naresh Kumar in the quarter-finals of the 5th ICL Chennai Open - Circuit 2 to claim his anticipated place in the semi-finals of this PSA Tour event at the ICL Squash Academy in the Indian city of Chennai.

After winning the first game in a tie-breaker, the 18-year-old from Chennai saw the second end the same way. But this time, the 40-minute game saw both players fighting for every inch of the court - with both evenly serving for the game before Kumar eventually prevailed 27-25!

The 19-year-old fifth seed from Delhi also took the third, but Sandhu reclaimed the initiative and - after 79 minutes - clinched the match 11-10 (2-0), 10-11 (15-17), 7-11, 11-6, 11-1.

Omar Tarek Mahm Aly showed his repertoire of short kills en-route to upsetting Hong Kong's No3 seed Dick Lau 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4. The unseeded Egyptian will now face India's top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya, who survived two tie-break games to beat Egyptian qualifier Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0).

Quarter-finals:
[1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt [Q] Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly (EGY) 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0) (41m)
Omar Tarek Mahm Aly (EGY) bt [3] Dick Lau (HKG) 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 (41m)
[4] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt [5] Naresh Kumar (IND) 11-10 (2-0), 10-11 (15-17), 7-11, 11-6, 11-1 (79m)
[2] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt [6] Parthiban Ayappan (IND) 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (28m)