Patrick Rooney to face Mostafa Asal after beating Ramit Tandon in Singapore first round battle

By Alan Thatcher

November 15, 2022 - 12:07pm

0 comments

By ALAN THATCHER (Squash Mad Editor) and MATT COLES (PSA) in Singapore

Patrick Rooney overcame India’s Ramit Tandon in a five-game battle to join fellow Brits Mohamed ElShorbagy and Joel Makin in the men’s second round of the Marigold Singapore Open.

Rooney’s prize is a tie against No.2 seed Mostafa Asal, while in the top half of the draw No.4 seed ElShorbagy meets Germany’s Raphael Kandra and No.6 seed Makin takes on Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller.

Rooney allowed a two-game lead to slip away as Tandon fought his way back into the match and finally squeezed home in the fifth to win 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9 in 65 minutes.

Rooney and Tandon had only met once previously on the PSA World Tour, with Rooney coming through in a five game thriller in Qatar, and that’s exactly how it turned out today.

Rooney dominated the opening stages and kept in front of Tandon for the majority of the first two games, not getting involved in the front court exchanges too much, given the skill level of the Indian. The England No.2 earned himself a well deserved 2-0 lead and looked confident leaving the court.

Tandon responded however and kept his attacking style of play going despite the 2-0 deficit. The Indian then capitalised on a dip in concentration from Rooney to take game three and breathe more life in the contest. The game three win seemed to give a heap of confidence to the Indian for game four as his attacks couldn’t seem to miss. He levelled the match, taking the fourth game 11-8 to set up a fifth and final game.

Tandon started the better of the two but it wasn’t too long before Rooney was back in front of the Indian. The Englishman used his superior reach to keep Tandon behind him and managed to stay solid in the final stages of the game and eventually forced an error at 10-9 to take the match, much to the Englishman’s relief.