Victoria Open : Dipika Pallikal eases into the quarters

Victoria Open : Dipika Pallikal eases into the quarters

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© Dipika Pallikal Facebook

World No.20 and top seed Dipika Pallikal eased into the quarterfinal with an 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 win over qualifier Teh Min Jie of Malaysia in the Victoria Open, a PSA tour event, at Melbourne on Thursday. She will now face Megan Craig of New Zealand in the next round.

Returning to the PSA tour after a gap of two months, the new Indian national champion needed just 24 minutes to complete her job and get ready for eighth seed Megan Craig of New Zealand next.

In the men's section where, of the three Indians in the draw, only two moved in the quarterfinal. One was third seed Harinder Pal Sandhu and the other was eighth seed Kush Kumar. On the other hand, Sandeep Ramachandran who has been a while in Australia hopping from one tournament to another did well to come into the main draw via the qualification phase but could not go beyond two rounds. In the first round, he had a fighting win over Rohan Toole of Australia, the scores being 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7. However, in the next round, Kush himself packed him off 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 in 18 minutes to enter the last eight. Kush in the first round had an extended session in the first round beating Ko Youngjo (Kor) 11-4, 11-2, 7-11, 11-7.

Harinder, the national runner-up, sailed past qualifier Connon Sheen of England 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 in the first round before meeting some resistance from Lance Beddoes of New Zealand in the next. The Indian won 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 for a quarterfinal entry. Harinder plays seventh seed Evan Williams of New Zealand and Kush takes on fourth seed Reiko Peter of Switzerland.

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