KARACHI, Sept 29: Top seed Adrian Grant of England ended Pakistan’s hopes of winning the Chief of Naval Staff International squash championship when he defeated home player Mansoor Zaman in the final at the Roshan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex here on Friday.

Grant has become the third English player who won the CNS event. Anthony Ricketts (2001) and Jonathan Kemp (2005) had earlier won it.

In the final, world No. 31 Mansoor took lead by winning the first game 11-7.

Grant, world No. 17, immediately took control of the proceedings and won the second game 11-6 to make it 1-1.

The third game witnessed fierce fighting. However, it was Grant who won the epic third-game battle 11-10 (3-1) in 25 minutes to take a 2-1 lead.

After winning the third game, the pre-tournament favourite never looked back and displayed deadly nicks and drop shots to claim the fourth game 11-7, to win the US$25,000 title in 56 minutes.—PPI