Qatar Airways Challenge Qualifying (FINALS)

ATKINSON BACKS OUT – SO DAVID READY FOR NUMBER ONE AGAIN
The sad news concerning this prestigious tournament is that world number Vanessa Atkinson has had to pull out with a recurring back problem.  The good news is everything else about this tournament is terrific.

Qatar Airlines, the sponsor , is now ranked   in the top five airlines in the world. And quite right: their service is superb and their efficiency  could make airline travel bearable again.
We are housed in the the Taj Krishan hotel, a marble palace of magnificent proportions and the opening night dinner provided  a  wonderful range of  Indian cooking, all beautifully presented.

But  back to the squash: in my preview I had anticipated a great fight as four or five players  vied for top spot. With Atkinson gone, there will still be much to anticipate but for Nicol David, who was knocked off the top spot by Atkinson, there are enough rankings points in this tournament – the third biggest on the circuit- to allow her to snatch the number one ranking back if she wins.

DIPIKIA PALLIKAL – TRY SAYING THAT THREE TIMES QUICKLY
Out of the 16 players qualifying for the eight spots in the main draw, star billing must go to Dipikia Pallikal, a local  (Chenai) wild card who   gave  Malaysia’s Tricia  Chuah, ranked  35, a nasty shock by taking the first game 9-6 losing the next 1-9 but coming back to win the third 9-5 to take a 2/1 lead.

There are two things you should know about  Dipikia: she is stunningly beautiful (they say she already models)  and she is just 14 years old.   And if my observations are correct, she could be playing for Harvard in four years time. (That’s right, Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa was here for 24 hours).

Chuah was partly responsible for her own  near-demise by  hitting some careless errors,  but managed to settle down to take the last two games  9-2 9-2. Miss Pallikal showed  a fine feel for the game which she has only been playing for four years and her lack of experience and fitness   allowed the tide to turn in Chuah’s favour.

“Of course I was happy with performance,”  Dipikia told me. “To take two games off the world number 35 is very good for me. I only joined WISPA last month so I don’t have a ranking yet.” Pallikal is the  Asian  Under15 champion and will lead the Indian junior team  at next year’s world junior champs. Keep an eye and ear open for her.

Chuah’s win put her in the main draw to face  third seed Natalie Graham and she will need to tighten her game up  to have any chance at all.

LOADS OF ZEROES IN THE SCORELINES
India’s top player Joshna Chinappa  had an easy time beating  New Zealand’s Louise Crome losing just one point before Crome withdrew, unable to move having suffered severe food poisoning  and having been awake all night.

Carla Khan, the English-born Pakistan number one,  took just 13 minutes to beat another Indian wildcard, Surbhi Misra, 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 and was just slightly horrified to hear that she had drawn  number two seed Rachael Grinham in the main draw.

Kasey Brown, Australia’s only emerging hope in the senior game (she is now ranked 25 on the back of four tournament wins), also chalked up a couple of bagels  against Shivangi Paranjpe for theloss of one point in 17 minutes. North America’s only representative, Runa Reta of Canada, dispatched the final Indian wild card with another two zeros giving up just two points in  their 16minute encounter.

KIPPAX CAUGHT NAPPING
Orla Noom of  the Netherlands, ranked three places below Sarah Kippax of England (ranked 36)  started the match in overdrive and even though Kippax said she was expecting the fast pace she was taken by surpise and Noom zoomed to a 9-1 first game win. Kippax was still struggling to subdue  Noom, whom she beat 3/0   their last meeting, in the second game and just managed to pip her 10-8 to tie the match. These are two evenly matched player who give very little away with unforced errors so each point was fought with tenacity. Kippax  took the last two games 9-3,9-5 but it was much harder than the score suggests.  Kippax will face fellow England player Vicky Botwright, seeded four, in the main draw.

GUYANA BEATS ITALY
Longest and hardest battle of the day was  between Guyana’s Nicolette Fernandes and Italy’s Manuela Manetta (who is coached by Fiona Geaves in New York). The small-statured  Fernandes  moves around the court like a squirrel and had things all her own way in the first game winning  9-2 and not making one bad shot. But those errors were saved up for the second game and came each time she tried a coup de grace with a backhand drop. TING! went the tin a half-a-dozen times and Manetta had the game 9-7 to tie it all up. I must say when I saw Manetta play last, she was playing better than this  - even hitting the ball better than she was today.   She paid for her dip in performance as  Fernandes cut out the errors and kept the ball going, distributing it well around the court and using the forehand cross-court lob to good effect  taking the last two game 9-6 9-6  to win the 77 minute encounter and move into the main draw  where Netherland’s Annelize Naude awaits her.

QATAR AIRWAYS CHALLENGE
Qualifying results:

Suzie Pierrepont (ENG) bt Jenna Gates (ENG) 9-1, 3-9, 10-8, 9-1 (46 mins)
Joshan Chinappa (IND) bt Louise Crom (NZ) 0-1, 9-0 ret.
Runa Reta (CAN) bt Anwesah Reddy (IND) 9-0,9-2, 9-0 (16mins)
Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt  Orla Noom (NED) 1-9, 10-8,l 9-3, 9-5 (58mins)
Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) bt Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-2, 7-9, 9-6, 9-6 (77mins)
Kasey Brown (AUS) bt  Shivangi Paranjpe (IND)  9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (17mins)
Tricia Chuah  (MAS) bt Dipikia Pallikal (IND) 6-9, 9-1, 5-9 9-2, 9-2 (55mins)
Carla Khan (PAK) bt Surbhi Misra (IND) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 (13mins)

Revised 1st round draw:
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [Q] Carla Khan (PAK)
[13] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) v [Q] Runa Reta (CAN)
[6] Tania Bailey (ENG) v Tegwen Malik (WAL)
[11] Annelize Naude (NED) v [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) v [Q] Tricia Chuah (MAS)
[16] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) v Latasha Khan (USA)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v Sharon Wee (MAS)
[9] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) v Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL)
[14] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) v Amelia Pittock (AUS)
[5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v Melissa Martin (AUS)
[12] Engy Kheirallah (EGY) v Lauren Briggs (ENG)
[4] Vicky Botwright (ENG) v [Q] Sarah Kippax (ENG)
[15] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) v [Q] Kasey Brown (AUS)
[8] Alison Waters (ENG) v [Q] Suzie Pierrepont (ENG)
[10] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) v [Q] Joshna Chinappa (IND)
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 

                    [Main Draw]