JOIN USAfter 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 World Squash Association (WSA) Challenger 15 title without dropping a further game.
In the final, Pallikal defeated second seed Heba El Torky, the 24-year-old World No 26 from Egypt who finished runner-up in 2014, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 here on Sunday to win her 10th WSA Tour title.
El Torky survived a hard-fought five-game semifinal against Samantha Teran on Sunday, the third seed from Mexico and nine years her senior, eventually clinching victory on her third match-ball, 10-12, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10.
Pallikal, the 2013 champion, 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, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8.
Right from the start of the final, Pallikal looked in full control. She was striking the ball crisply and cleanly, mixing in an array of wicked offensive shots, mostly forehanded attempts and well timed flicks.
Perhaps El Torky’s hour and 45-minute semifinal match from the day before had left her a little exhausted, but Pallikal looked in as good a form as she had been anytime this week.