Bhattacharya Battles To Major Upset In Atlanta

India's Ritwik Bhattacharya scored a major upset in the Grant Thornton Atlanta Open when he beat top seed Mohamed Essam A Hafiz on the opening day of the PSA Tour event in Atlanta, USA.

Bhattacharya, 25, from New Delhi, despatched his Egyptian opponent 11-9 11-7 11-3 to become the only unseeded player to reach the last eight.

His opponent in the quarter-finals will be Matthew Giuffre after the sixth-seeded Canadian triumphed 11-6 11-6 6-11 11-4 over Dutch qualifier Dylan Bennett.

Martin Heath's bid to halt his slide down the PSA world rankings took a knock in Atlanta when he went down in four games to Frenchman Jean-Michel Arcucci. The former world No4 from Scotland has plummeted from 35 to 149 in the world list this year. In his first PSA Tour appearance since the Canadian Classic last November, Heath lost 11-10 9-11 11-7 11-5 to eighth seed Arcucci - who goes on to meet England's No3 seed Alister Walker.

1st round:
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt [1] Mohamed Essam A Hafiz (EGY) 11-9, 11-7, 11-3
[6] Matthew Giuffre (CAN) bt [Q] Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4
[4] Stephane Galifi (FRA) bt [Q] Ben Gould (AUS) 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7
[7] Mark Heather (ENG) bt [Q] Bradley Hindle (AUS) 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 4-11, 11-5
[8] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) bt Martin Heath (SCO) 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 11-7, 11-5
[3] Alister Walker (ENG) bt [Q] Shawn De Lierre (CAN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8
[5] Gavin Jones (WAL) bt Viktor Berg (CAN) 11-7, 3-11, 11-7, 11-3
[2] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Robert McFadzean (USA) 11-1, 11-9, 11-9