Far away from the Rio Olympics 2016, Indian squash queen Dipika Pallikal is dominating the courts in Australia. The World No. 19 made it a memorable day by winning her illustrious career’s 11th PSA title at the $15, 000 Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday.
It wasn’t any easy affair as the top seed had to show her exceptional resilience to notch up a comeback 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 victory over the eighth-seeded Mayar Hany of Egypt. The 19-year-old has been a giant-killer at this tournament and accounted for the second seed Donna Urquhart in the semi-final on Thursday.
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She continued with that same confidence in the final as she claimed the opening game over the higher-ranked Pallikal. But the Indian was determined not to let go of this opportunity after being on the losing side in the final of the Victorian Open last week where she narrowly went down in a nail-biting thriller.
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Dipika fought back and showed why she was once ranked World No. 10. She took the next three games and closed out the win in 40 minutes. It has been a fantastic few weeks for the 24-year-old. Even at home, she dazzled on the squash courts to clinch the second National Squash Championships title of her career in July.
Next up: World Squash Doubles
She will next be seen in action at the World Squash Doubles which is scheduled to begin next week. She and Joshna Chinappa have been given the top seeding in women’s doubles while in mixed, she will be seen alongside 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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