Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa lose in quarterfinals at China Open

Ghosal produced a 76-minute epic battle against Egyptian sixth seed Karim Abdel Gawad before going down 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11 in the quarterfinal match. (Facebook)

Indian national champion Saurav Ghosal and star woman player Joshna Chinappa bowed out in the quarterfinal stage of the USD 100,000 China Open, a PSA World Tour event, here today.

Ghosal produced a 76-minute epic battle against Egyptian sixth seed Karim Abdel Gawad before going down 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11 in the quarterfinal match.

Earlier, Ghosal, who dropped out of the top 20 as per the latest PSA rankings, made a bright start against fourth seeded Colombian Miguel Rodriguez in the opening round.

The Indian produced a grand come back to convert a 1-2 deficit to a 3-2 win, in the first round match that lasted 90 minutes. That 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 win helped Ghosal get a place in the quarterfinal.

In the women’s section, Indian stars Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik suffered losses to crash out of the tournament.

Dipika, who had to come into the main draw via the qualification phase, lost 5-11, 5-11, 6-11 in the first round against Hong Kong Open winner Nouran Gohar of Egypt, seeded third.

However, Joshna, who has just returned to the top-10 ranking in the world, survived some tense moments to beat qualifier Heba El Torky of Egypt in four games 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7. But in the quarterfinal, she lost 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 to top seed Laura Massaro of England.