Joshna Chinappa in Victorian Open final

Chinappa (R) with teammate Dipika Pallikal (file photo)

Melbourne, Australia, 1^st August 2015: India’s top player Joshna Chinappa lived up to her seeding to storm into the final of the $15,000 Victorian Open squash event in Melbourne on Saturday.

The third seed Indian defeated Australia’s Christine Nunn, the eighth seed, who had accounted for the top seed Rachael Grinham earlier. Nunn could not rise up to challenge the Indian national champion and went down in straight games 11-7, 11-5, 11-9.

Chinappa will next play the second seed Line Hansen of Denmark, who edged out South Africa’s Siyoli Waters 15-13, 12-10, 11-3. Chinappa has a 1-1 record in recent times with Hansen and to that extent it should be an interesting final on the morrow.

For the other Indian, Mahesh Mangaonkar, however, it proved curtains as he fell to the top seed, Ryan Cuskelly of Australia. Cuskelly had dropped just one game right through the competition and ensured it remained that way with a straight-game win 11-6, 11-6, 11-6. He later complimented the third-seeded Indian for making him work hard. “He got a lot of balls back. It was a good match,” the Australian said.

Cuskelly next faces fourth seed Greg Lobban of Scotland who downed Steve Finitsis of Australia in a marathon 17-15, 5-11,11-13, 11-8, 11-4. Finitsis was the conqueror of Kush Kumar in the quarter-finals of the Victorian Open.