Dipika defeated Malaysian qualifier Teh Min Jie, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2
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Indian squash queen Dipika Pallikal made a thunderous start to her campaign at the PSA $10, 000 Victorian Open 2016 as she raced into the quarter-finals in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday. The World No. 19, who is the top seed at this tournament, needed only 24 minutes to dismiss Malaysian qualifier Teh Min Jie, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2.
The 24-year-old will next face the eighth seed Megan Craig for a place in the semi-finals.
Sandhu, Kumar in quarters
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The simultaneous men’s event saw the third seed Harinderpal Sandhu and eighth seed Kush Kumar emerging winners.
Sandhu did not have it all going his way as he required four games to get the better of the 110th ranked Lance Beddoes. The World No. 84 prevailed over the Kiwi player, 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 in 47 minutes. He next faces the seventh seed Evan Williams.
The 20-year-old Kush Kumar, meanwhile, won a battle of rising Indian stars as he beat 19-year-old qualifier Sandeep Ramachandran, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 in just 18 minutes.
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The youngster, currently ranked 102nd, will next take on the fourth seed Reiko Peter. The 27-year-old Swiss is placed 22 ranking spots above the Indian.
This is the opening week of the new PSA season. Both Pallikal and Sandhu are in great form as evidenced by their performances at the National Squash Championships in July. While the Chennai girl went on to clinch her second title, Sandhu lost in a dramatic, closely-fought final to Saurav Ghosal.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
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