World No. 17 Dipika Pallikal fought hard only to be denied a place in the final of the $25,000 Slaight Music and Roundtable Capital Granite Open in Toronto on Thursday. The second-seeded Pallikal went down 10-12, 9-11, 9-11 to the sixth seed Nicolette Fernandes of Guyana in a 62-minute battle.
It was a gripping semi-final in which last year’s runner-up Pallikal had the slender lead initially and even reached the game ball in the first game. But the experienced World No. 28 came back strongly to snatch the game from the Indian 12-10.
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She went ahead in the second game.
The former World No. 10 Indian was once again the first one to inch ahead in the second game but Fernandes fought back bravely to level it at 7-7. The Guyanese player took the lead at 9-8 via a counter drop and even though Pallikal started moving her opponent around the court after that, she could not stop her from grabbing the second game as well.
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The third game was replete with some breathtaking attacking shots and it was the sixth seed who had the upper hand initially as she nudged ahead 8-5. The India No. 2 once again put up a show of resilience to even the game at 8-8. However, the undeterred Fernandes pocketed three of the next four points to take the match and seal her place in Sunday’s final versus the fourth seed Victoria Lust.
Dipika Pallikal will next head to the Cleveland Classic in early February where she is up against the former World No. 5 Low Wee Wern in the opening round.
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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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