Rosner Rallies To Win Manhattan Marathon

German squash star Simon Rosner survived an epic five-game encounter against Indian No1 Saurav Ghosal during the second day of action at the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, the first PSA World Series event of the year at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

In a contest which saw both players give their all, Rosner came from 2/1 behind to eventually triumph 14-12, 14-16, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5 and record his first ever PSA World Tour win over Ghosal.

"I knew it would be a really tough match," said Rosner. "Saurav is a great player with lots of skill. Whenever we've played before the matches have always been very close.

"The first few games today were crazily intense and we both played some great squash. He played some unbelievable shots throughout the match so I'm just really happy to win.

"I ended 2013 on a high so hopefully I can continue to build on that now. I've got nothing to lose going into the next round so I'm going to enjoy it and give it my best."

Rosner will take on No5 seed Karim Darwish in the second round on Monday after the Egyptian former world No1 survived a similarly dramatic encounter against countryman Omar Mosaad.

Darwish was forced to dig deep and showed his championship pedigree, coming from 2/0 down to record a 3/2 victory in an 81-minute match-up.

"It was a very tough match, especially for a first round of an event," said Darwish. "He's in the top ten but that is just a sign of how tough squash is right now.

"I was 2/0 down but I told myself to relax and enjoy myself. I had to change a few things in my game and my tactics and thankfully I came back strongly and won.

"This tournament is a very special event in the PSA calendar. There are thousands of people passing by every day and it's a great feeling to play here as a player and credit goes to John Nimick who runs the tournament for making it such a great event."

Elsewhere England's Chris Simpson recorded his first ever victory on the glass court at Grand Central, surviving an early scare against Egyptian qualifier Ali Farag to prevail 3/1 after losing the opening game.

Farag was forced off court during the second game due to a facial injury suffered when Simpson accidentally caught him with his racket and it proved a vital moment as the Englishman went on to win the game in emphatic fashion 11-0 before clinching the match.

"That was my first win on the glass court here which was very special for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it," said Simpson.

"During the injury break I was telling myself to keep warm and keep focused. I felt that I had found a bit of a zone before it happened so I didn't want momentum to shift and I managed to do come out with a good win."

No.1 seed Gregory Gaultier and No.3 seed Mohamed Elshorbagy began their title campaigns with comfortable 3/0 victories over Tom Richards and Todd Harrity, respectively, while Tarek Momen, Daryl Selby and Alister Walker also booked their places in round two.

Image courtesy of SquashPics.com