India's squash player Dipika Pallikal scripted a memorable come back from two games down to notch up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Kasey Brown and enter the quarterfinals of the Carol Weymuller Open here today.
The Indian star played one of the best games of her life as she recovered from two games down and also saved a match-ball in the third to upset the Australian eighth seed 6-11 10-12 13-11 11-8 11-9 in the opening round of the Gold 50 event, celebrating its 40th anniversary at The Heights Casino in Brooklyn.
"I'm really, really, pleased to get through. When my mum told me I was in the main draw, I didn't believe her as I was thinking that I was going to have to qualify. So, I wanted to take advantage of being in the main draw. I came all the way to the USA for one tournament as I am playing in Macau, China, in a week's time," said Pallikal, who will next meet top seed Nicol David, the world number one form Malaysia.
Pallikal said it was the three-month training ahead of the tournament which made all the difference to her game.
"I had 3 months off tournaments this summer so I trained with Sarah Fitz-Gerald in Australia, trained with Ritwik (Bhattacharya) in Bombay and in Chennai with my fitness trainer Basu - and I think it made the difference. I'm really thankful to Sarah as she has put a lot of effort in me and she'll be really pleased that I won today," she said.
Brown, the US-based world No 11, started strongly and managed to contain underdog Pallikal's shot selection - winning the first two games.
