Qualifying first round: Alix Younger (Can) bt
Hannah Blett (Can) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 Melina Turk (Can) bt Ashley Maienchak (Can) 12-10, 11-5, 11-7 Hana Essam Khedr (Egy) bt Alexia Clonda (Est) 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 Maria Toor Pakay (Pak) v Mia Kirbyson (Can) 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 Nayelly Hernandez (Mex) bt Anika Alexander (Can) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3
Pallikal Powers To Winnipeg Win
After conceding a game in the opening round, top seed Dipika
Pallikal showed her true class in the Winnipeg Winter Club
Women's Open by reclaiming the WSA Challenger 15 squash
title at the Winnipeg Winter Club in Winnipeg, Canada,
without dropping a further game.
The 2013 champion from India reached the final - the 15th of her
career on the WSA World Tour - after beating Donna
Urquhart, the fourth seed from Australia making her Tour return
after a six-month foot injury break.
In
the final predicted by the draw, Pallikal faced second seed Heba
El Torky, the 24-year-old world No.26 from Egypt who finished as
runner-up in 2014.
El
Torky survived a hard-fought five-game semi-final against
Samantha Teran, the third seed from Mexico nine years her
senior, eventually clinching victory on her third match-ball.
"Right from the start of the final, Dipika looked in full control of
her game and the match,"
said tournament spokesman Trevor Borland.
"Dipika was striking the ball crisp and clean as she
always does, mixing in an array of wicked offensive boasts, mostly
from the forehand side as well as timely flicks and lots of dying
length.
"Perhaps Heba's hour and forty-five minute match from the day before
had something to do with it, but Dipika looked in as good a form as
we had seen this week. After getting down 10-6 in the second, Heba
climbed back to 9-10 on a few of Dipika's errors, but at 9-10 Dipika
decided to do nothing but wait for an error from El Torky which she
was rewarded with after an a very long backhand rally and took the
second.
"A
little tighter third, but the outcome looked inevitable as Dipika
rolled on to win her second Winnipeg Winter Club Women's Open
title."
The 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 triumph marks the 10th WSA Tour title of
Pallikal's career.
"Very happy to win my first tournament of the year in Winnipeg:)"
the 23-year-old from Chennai told her Twitter followers later.
"A big thank you to @Fitzsquash & @basu2013
:)"
Seeds Safely Through In Winnipeg
The top four seeds safely made it through to the semi-finals of
the Winnipeg Winter Club Women's Open, the WSA Challenger
15 squash event in its sixth year at the Winnipeg Winter Club
in Winnipeg, Canada.
Australian Donna Urquhart, the former world No.13 making
her Tour comeback after a six-month layoff following foot surgery,
was taken to four games by Amanda Landers-Murphy before
beating the No.8 seed from New Zealand 13-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-8.
The Brisbane-based 28-year-old had match-ball at 10-8 in the
third, but her fellow Antipodean took advantage of unforced errors
from the fourth seed to reduce the deficit. World No.36 Urquhart
regrouped in the fourth to secure her anticipated place in the
semi-finals.
Her opponent will be Dipika Pallikal, the top seed who is
bidding to keep the title in Indian hands for the third year in a
row after her success in 2013 and her compatriot Joshana Chinappa's
triumph in the 2014 championship.
After dropping a game in her first round match, the 23-year-old
world No.14 from Chennai was in commanding form in the quarters,
beating rising Egyptian 17-year-old Nadine Shahin 11-4, 11-9,
11-3.
Mexican veteran Samantha Teran got the better of fellow
33-year-old Aisling Blake, beating the fifth seed from
Ireland 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-5.
Third seed Teran now takes on Egypt's Heba El Torky for a
place in the final. The second seed and 2014 runner-up ended North
American interest in the event when she defeated USA's No.6 seed
Olivia Blatchford 11-6, 11-8, 11-3.
