Joshna stretched in World Championship opener

India's Joshna Chinappa had a tough time against unseeded Haley Mendez of US before prevailing in her opening match at the CIB PSA women's World Squash Championship at the Great Pyramids here. The Indian won 9-11, 12-10,8-11, 11-6, 11-6 in a match played late on Thursday.

The 12th seeded Joshna admitted she was a touch nervous in the start and with Haley playing well things turned tough. However, the Indian showed her fighting qualities to catch up and dished out a steady game towards the end to make it a comfortable finish. Another Indian, Sunayna Kuruvilla, went down in the first round against Nele Gilis of Belgium. Sunayna started off well, winning the first game but thereafter it was the Belgian all the way. Nele won 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5.

The Egyptian men's Open is also being held simultaneously and the interest for India here is Vikram Malhotra and Saurav Ghosal. Ghosal has a bye into the second round. Earlier Ramit Tandon went down in the opening round to Leo Au of Hong Kong. Leo won 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.