Vikram meets Mahesh in summit clash of North of Scotland Open

Second-seed Vikram Malhotra and third seeded Mahesh Mangaonkar set up an all-Indian final at the North of Scotland Open Squash Tournament 2017, a PSA World Tour event, being held at Aberdeen.

According to information received here, Mumbai player Mangaonkar stunned top-seed Richard Fallows of England 10-12 11-8 13-11 11-3 in the semi-finals in 70 minutes.

He fought back well after dropping the first game to topple the Englishman by winning the next three games.

In the other semi-final, Malhotra, second seeded, quelled the mid-match revival of Malaysian seventh-seed Eain Yow Ng, the 2016 World Junior Champion to win 11-4, 11-7, 6-11, 11-2 in 45 minutes.

A SRFI press note said Mangaonkar and Malhotra became the first two Indians to contest a PSA Tour event final away from India.

Two others Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya have featured in PSA events final before but both the tournaments were held in India.

In the ongoing USD 10,000 event in Scotland, Vikram made steady progress, beating a qualifier South African Tristan Eysele 11-6 11-6 11-8 first, then fifth seed Evan Williams (New Zealand) 11-5 11-5 11-8 next to enter the semi-final.

On the other hand, third-seed Mahesh had a tougher time and tougher opponents. He accounted for Pakistan's Israr Ahmed 14-12, 12-14, 11-2, 11-4 in the first round. Then, he defeated sixth seed Jan Van Den Herrewegen (Bel) 11-6, 11-3, 4-11, 11-6 for a place in the semi-final.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)