Dipika Pallikal knocked out of Netsuite Open in the opening round

Dipika Pallikal

World number 17, Dipika Pallikal was shocked in the first round by an unseeded Olivia Blatchford in the Netsuite Open, PSA M100 tournament in San Francisco late on Friday.

The American number two and World number 37 produced the performance of the day in the main draw competition. It was not as though the Indian did not fight. In fact from 0-2 down in game score, Dipika showed signs of recovery by winning the next two games to queer the pitch.

But showing better composure under pressure, Blatchford held her nerve to reel out a 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-13, 11-9 win over the third seeded Indian and record a huge upset in the tournament.