Joshna Chinappa progresses to main draw at Carol Weymuller Squash Open

The World No. 24 will know her opponent after all qualifiers are completed

India’s squash ace and world no. 24 Joshna Chinappa passed a stern test to secure her place in the main draw of the prestigious US$50,00 Carol Weymuller Open in New York on Wednesday. The 29-year-old caused a mini upset as she beat Guyana’s Nicolette Fernandes, who is ranked just one place higher than her, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6.

Chinappa, who has won two PSA titles this year, at the Victorian Open and the NSCI Open, has been showing her grit and resilience at the New York tournament. On Tuesday, she fought hard for a 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 victory over the 43rd ranked Coline Aumard of France in the first round of qualifying at the Carol Weymuller Open.

The conditions for play were not ideal and the match became a long, physical contest between Chinappa and Aumard, but the Indian showed resilience and guts to hold on to the win.

Chinappa’s first round opponent in the main draw will be determined after all four qualifying finals are completed.

World No. 17 Dipika Pallikal, who lost at last week’s NetSuite Open in the first round, is the other Indian playing at this elite tournament. Pallikal had also been due to play the qualifiers earlier. But due to the last-minute withdrawal of Nouran Gohar, there was a reshuffling of the draw, which saw Pallikal promoted directly to the main draw.

She has a tough task at hand, as she is up against the World No. 1 Raneem El Welily of Egypt in the opening round of the tournament on Friday, the 2^nd of October.