Indian squash queen Dipika Pallikal has started the new PSA season with a bang! The World No. 19 booked her place in the final of the PSA $15, 000 Australian Open with a comeback victory over the 18-year-old Egyptian qualifier Hana Ramadan in Melbourne on Thursday. After losing the first game, the top seed put up a brilliant display to notch up a 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 victory in the semi-final.
In Friday’s summit clash, the former World No. 10 will meet the eighth-seeded Mayar Hany, who is ranked 46th in the latest PSA rankings. The 19-year-old showed amazing maturity and temperament to upset the second seed Donna Urquhart, 11-4, 5-11, 13-11, 14-12 in the other semi-final.
Pallikal has been in fantastic form of late and captured her second National Squash Championships title in July, beating the 14-time champion Joshna Chinappa. Last week, she made it to the final of the PSA Victorian Open where she lost in a nail-biting five-game thriller to World No. 44 Millie Tomlinson.
The Chennai girl has a shot at redemption this week at the Australian Open.
Pallikal is the lone Indian remaining
The other Indians playing in this tournament suffered early exits. Harinderpal Sandhu was the one to progress the farthest, reaching the quarter-finals.
Sandeep Ramachandran and Ravi Dixit bowed out in Round 1 and Round 2 respectively. 20-year-old Kush Kumar, unfortunately, had to retire in his second-round match owing to an ankle injury.
