El Gouna (Egypt), April 21 (IANS): India's Ramit Tandon defeated French world No. 11 Victor Crouin 3-1 in the second round of the El Gouna International Open, a USD 198,000 prize money PSA Platinum squash event.

World No 40 Tandon, who has a direct entry to the World Championships to be played in Egypt next month, won 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5 in 52 minutes for his second victory in five meetings over the Frenchman.

"Victor is a very fair player, it’s always been fun playing him. We’re good friends so it’s always a good clean match. I’m happy with the way I played. That second game was really close and could have gone either way which was really crucial. Fortunately, it went my way," said Ramit after the win.

"In the third, he was too sharp and I took a bit of a breather as well when I found myself down. Then I came back firing in the fourth and I feel I got a little lucky towards the end but that’s how the sport goes! I knew the fourth game was going to be tough and I needed to start strong and I believed in the physical work I’d put in and believed I could stay with him," he added.

Tandon, who beat Egyptian world No 62 Aly Hussein 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 in the first round of the 48-player draw, will meet Peruvian World No 3 Diego Elias in the third round. Elias has won both of his previous meetings against the Indian.