New Delhi: It turned out to be a disappointing outing for Siddharth Suchde at the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters squash event as the Indian lost his opening round match against France's Gregory Gaultier to bow out of the championship here on Monday.
Suchde, the host nation's wildcard entrant, lost 4-11 1-11 6-11 to the fourth seed Gaultier in the USD 1,65,000 final PSA World series event of the year being played at Siri Fort Sports Complex.
India's top-ranked player Saurav Ghosal will play USA's Julian Illingworth in the first round of the main draw at an all glass court on Tuesday, but his chances of advancing further into the championship looks extremely difficult as he would be facing fifth seed and world ranked seventh England's Peter Barker in the pre-quarterfinals.
All other top seed men's players including sixth seed Egypt's Mohamed Al Shorbagy, eighth seed L J Anjema of the Netherlands, Egypt's Omar Mosaad advanced to the pre-quarters of the week-long event, winning their respective matches.
In the match between Suchde and Gaultier, the Indian gave a glimpse of his fighting abilities though he lost in straight games.
Gaultier dominated from the start and produced a flurry of delightful winners with deft touch to the front. The Frenchman kept the ball very tight throughout and did not allow Suchde to come to the front of the glass court.
Gaultier will next meet the winner of the match between England's James Willstrop and Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the matches involving non-Indians, world number 34 Borja Golan of Spain registered an upset victory over higher-ranked England's Adrian Grant to advance to the pre-quarters.
Golan defeated the world ranked 18th Grant 12-10 11-6 11-4 in the opening round.
Shorbagy defeated Stephen Coppinger of South Africa 3-1 (11-7 13-15 11-6 11-5) while Anjema thrashed Mohd Ali Anwar Reda of Egypt 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-9).
Mossad also managed to outplay Chris Ryder of England 3-1 (8-11 11-3 11-7 11-9).
Karim Darwish of Egypt easily won the match against Ryan Cuskelly of South Africa 12-10 11-5 11-4 in 32 minutes.
In the battle between Shorbagy and Coppinger, after one game all, the former upped the ante and started hitting the ball low to keep it tight.
Coppinger could not reach the ball and his unforced errors saw him losing the match.
In another contest, Anjema dominated the proceedings as he was in full control of the game and made his Egyptian rival move all over the court with his drops and cross-court shots.
Meanwhile, Mossad who beat Ryder in 50 minutes, lost the first game but came back strongly with more volleys. The 22-year-old Egyptian then cut the ball early, which helped him win three consecutive sets and move into the second round of the tournament.
World's 32 best players from 15 countries are competing for the prestigious title.
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