Simpson wins an epic

Friday 5th March 2010, 2:29PM GMT.

CHRIS SIMPSON came through an amazing 95-minute match yesterday to reach the Chennai Open squash quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old Sarnian beat his old house-mate Siddarth Suchde 3-2.

‘It was a very tough match on the hot courts which I played so badly on last time I was here and I was very glad to come out of it as the victor,’ Simpson said.

‘There was lots of ups and downs. I picked up a slight illness on the plane on the way here and found that I was feeling very tired very quickly, so I had to really take my time in between the rallys.

‘I then went over pretty hard on my ankle in the second game as the floor was very sweaty. At the time I was worried that I would not be able to finish the match but, as I played more, the pain started to numb and I got through it.’

Simpson now faces Indian No. 1 Saurav Ghosal on the glass court.