Karim Ali Fathi and Dipika Pallikal, the men’s and women’s top seeds respectively, had comfortable victories in the first round of the fourth and final leg of the JSW-PSA & WSA Challenger tournament, here on Sunday.
While Karim defeated Adhitya Raghavan 11-4, 11-4, 11-6, Dipika breezed past compatriot Harshit Kaur Jawanda 11-6, 11-4, 11-3.
Even as Dipika encountered some stiff fight from Harshit in the first game, she ended up dominating the ‘T’ for the most part.
After Dipika raced to a 6-3 lead, Harshit clawed her way back. She produced crisp volleys and topped it up with a graceful drop to stay in the game at 6-7.
But, Dipika resorted to a few boasts and kills to seal the game.
The next two games were easier for Dipika, who asserted her presence and shortened the points. The 23-year-old put the contest to bed in 29 minutes.
Later in the evening, Harinder Pal Singh, the second seed, was locked in an attritional battle with Pakistan’s Ahsan Ayaz. The former eventually won 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7.
In other action, India’s Kush Kumar produced a fine performance, beating fourth-seeded Lance Beddoes of New Zealand 11-2, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5.
In the women’s section, Sunayna Kuruvilla stretched Austria’s Birgit Coufal to five games before the latter prevailed.
The results (Indians unless mentioned otherwise): Round one:
Men: Hossam Nasser (Egypt) bt Jonas Daehler (Sui) 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 6-10, 11-4; Joel Makin (Wal) bt Abhinav Sinha 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Kevin Moran (Sco) bt Vijay Meena 11-8, 11-4, 13-15, 13-11; Ravi Dixit bt Velavan Senthilkumar 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.
Hannan Tarmidi (Mas) bt Deepak Mishra 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5; Kush Kumar bt Lance Beddoes (NZ) 11-2, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5; Karim Ali Fathi (Egypt) bt Adhitya Raghavan 11-4, 11-4, 11-6; Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Ahsan Ayaz 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7.
Women: Sivasangari Subramanian (Mas) bt Sammer Anjum (Pak) 12-10, 11-3, 11-4; Lakshya Ragavendran bt Aparajitha Balamurukan 14-12, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10; Birgit Coufal (Aut) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 6-11, 11-6; Siyoli Waters (RSA) bt Urwashi Joshi 11-6, 11-3, 11-4.
Cheyna Tucker (RSA) bt Sadia Gul (Pak) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8; Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) bt Sachika Ingale 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8; Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra 11-2, 11-1, 11-2; Dipika Pallikal bt Harshit Kaur Jawanda 11-6, 11-4, 11-3.
