The Indian duo of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal will look for confidence-boosting performances as they begin their campaign at the $50,000 Cleveland Classic in the USA on Saturday. While the sixth-seeded Chinappa faces a qualifier in the first round, the unseeded Pallikal is up against the seventh seed and former World No. 5 Low Wee Wern of Malaysia in her opener.
The 17th ranked Pallikal is coming to this tournament on the back of a semi-final appearance at the Granite Open just a week back and would be hoping to continue that form here as well. Wern has recently returned to the Tour after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on her left knee and is yet to get back to her full strength. Pallikal thus might be fancying her chances against the Malaysian.
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The draw gets tougher from there for both the Indian girls.
In the quarter-finals, Dipika will be meeting the winner of the match between the fourth seed Amanda Sobhy and Vicky Lust.
Both of them have been doing very well lately and would be a tough customer for the Indian. Lust won the Granite Open last week while Sobhy has been very impressive this month and captured the Greenwich International, besides reaching the final of the Tournament of Champions.
The 15th ranked Chinappa, meanwhile, has been placed in the top half of the draw and her likely opponent in the last-eight stage is the top seed Camille Serme of France. The World No. 4 has reached at least the quarter-finals of the last three PSA World Series events. Needless to say, that such a consistent performer would indeed present a difficult challenge to the Indian national champion.
