From correspondents in Europe, 10:30 PM IST

India's national squash champion Saurav Ghosal scored his second successive upset in the Ornano International Open to reach the final of the inaugural $15,000 PSA Tour event here.

In the semi-finals Friday, sixth seed Ghosal faced fifth seed Egyptian Amr Swelim. The marathon encounter lasted 74 minutes with underdog Ghosal ultimately surviving a fifth game tie-break to win 10-12, 11-2, 11-2, 3-11, 14-12.

Celebrating his sixth appearance in a PSA Tour final, Ghosal takes on Italian Davide Bianchetti, the third seed who outplayed surprise opponent Bradley Hindle, the eighth seed from Australia, 11-8, 11-9, 11-4 in the other semi-final.

World No.30 Bianchetti from Brescia, is marking his 18th Tour final appearance and will be meeting his Indian opponent for the first time for more than two years.

The Kolkata-born 22-year-old Ghosal made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals when he toppled top seed Renan Lavigne in four games - dashing hopes of local success in the event.

Results:

Quarter-finals: (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (1) Renan Lavigne (FRA) 7-11, 15-13, 11-5, 11-5 (63 minutes); (5) Amr Swelim (EGY) bt (4) Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5 (45 minutes); (3) Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt (7) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 (49 minutes); (8) Bradley Hindle (AUS) bt (2) Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-9, 13-11, 11-9 (73 minutes)

Semi-finals: (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (5) Amr Swelim (EGY) 10-12, 11-2, 11-2, 3-11, 14-12 (74 minutes); (3) Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt (8) Bradley Hindle (AUS) 11-8, 11-9, 11-4 (68 minutes)

(Staff Writer, © IANS)