Malaysia Cup QFs: Tandon Shocks Crouin

India’s World No.43 Ramit Tandon has reached his biggest PSA semi-final for over four years after he came from behind to inflict a shock defeat on No.3 seed Victor Crouin at the Ace Malaysia Squash Cup.

Tandon had never beaten Crouin in three previous attempts on the PSA Tour but put in an impressive performance to overturn a 2-1 deficit, securing a 12-10, 4-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 victory to seal his place in the last four of the Bronze-level event.

Crouin initially looked to be picking up where he left off following yesterday’s dominant win against Hong Kong’s Henry Leung as he kept Tandon behind him and dictated play, storming into a 10-5 lead.

But then the wheels came off for the World No.11 as he made four errors in a row. Tandon remained sharp and displayed some impressive racket skills of his own as he came back to take seven points in a row, though Crouin would have felt he should have converted.

He made no such mistake in the second game though. Following some words of encouragement from his father between games, Crouin came back onto court with focus and he dragged Tandon around the court intelligently to draw level.

The momentum stayed with Crouin in the third too, with a minor moment of controversy coming towards the end of the game, with a yes let being played after the referee couldn’t be sure if one of Crouin’s retrievals had reached the front wall, despite Tandon disagreeing.

Crouin’s four game balls remained and a tin from Tandon handed the World No.11 the lead for the first time.

Tandon kept fighting in the fourth and was reading Crouin well, pouncing on the cross court of the Frenchman and he wasn’t deceived by his holds as he came back to level up and force a decider.

The No.8 seed kept the pressure on the higher-ranked opponent in the fifth as Crouin looked to be running out of ideas and he closed out it to reach his first $50K semi-final since the 2017 JSW Indian Squash Circuit CCI International.

“I was just trying to play as well as I could, Victor is a solid player and he is one of those players that you really need to dig deep against to beat,” Tandon said afterwards.

“I knew coming into it that it wouldn’t be easy. I was happy with the way I fought because I was down and out in the first and even the fourth could have gone either way, so I’m glad I snuck those two games.

“It’s important to believe in myself and hang in there with them [the world’s best players]. Once I can start doing that I’ll be able to put pressure on them and convert these wins. I’ve been close before, but I haven’t really converted, so I think it’s about keeping the fight going.

“In squash, you never know how things are going to turn out.

“Firstly, I’ll focus on my recovery [ahead of tomorrow’s semi-final]. I’ll make sure I’m fit and ready to fight hard again tomorrow. I play squash because I love the game and I enjoy being on the court, that will be the same tomorrow.”

Result

[8] Ramit Tandon (IND) bt [3] Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-2: 12-10, 4-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 (76m)