Dipika Pallikal of Tamil Nadu set herself up for a triple crown when, after bagging the girls' under-15 title, she stormed into the women's and girls' under-19 finals, in the 62nd CCI-Western India Open squash tournament 2005, co-sponsored by Lifebuoy, at the CCI courts in Mumbai on Friday.
Pallikal was the toast of an eventful day as she set the ball rolling with a crushing 9-1, 9-0, 9-3 win over a hapless Ankita Sharma of Mumbai to clinch the under-15 title.
The Chennai lass, billed as the future of Indian squash among the ladies, returned later to cap a rewarding day by scoring a convincing 9-1, 9-1, 9-2 victory over Shahnaz Dastur in the girls' under-19 semi-finals and shocking second seed Dr. Deepali Anwekar-Parikh of Mumbai 9-6, 9-0, 9-2 in the women's semi-finals.
Pallikal will face top seed and defending champion Joshna Chinappa of Tamil Nadu, who continued her domination of the sport when she cruised into women's final with an impressive 9-3, 9-1, 9-3 win over unseeded Madhura Paranjpe of Mumbai.
Defending champion and top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya of Delhi overcame a determined Rishad Pandole of Mumbai to sail into the Open final, where he will take on either compatriot No. 3 Bikram Uberoi or second seed Vikas Jangra of Services Sports Control Board, who are contesting the second semi-final.
Mahesh Mangaonkar remained in line for a double after shocking top seed Rahul D'Cunha 3-2 in a thrilling boys' under-15 semi-final, and entered the under-13 final with a 3-0 win over Aakash Borwankar.
Sanjay Pawar, son of 10-time CCI-Western India Professionals champion Chandrakant Pawar, fashioned his maiden entry into the Professionals' final after rallying to a 3-1 win over Dashrath Tambe.
Results (semi-finals): Open: Ritwik Bhattacharya (Delhi) bt Rishad Pandole (Mumbai) 9-3, 9-3, 9-2; vs Bikram Uberoi (Delhi) or Vikas Jangra (Services).
Boys' under-19: Sandeep Jangra bt Naishad Lalwani 9-7, 9-2, 9-0; vs Manek Mathur or Vikram Malhotra.
Boys' under-17: Vikram Malhotra bt Cyrus Vakil 9-3, 9-0, 9-4; Naishad Lalwani bt Jay Bhagat 9-0, 9-2, 9-0.
Boys' under-15: Karm Kumar bt Aditya Gupta 10-9, 9-3, 9-2; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Rahul D'Cunha 9-7, 3-9, 9-0, 5-9, 9-4.
Boys' under-13: Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Aakash Borwankar 9-9-1, 10-8, 9-2; Abhishek Pradhan bt Caran Arora 10-8, 9-6, 9-4.
Boys' under-11: Arjun Kochhar bt Aviroop Ghosal 9-1, 9-2, 9-1; Ishaan Advani bt Raghav Mehrotra 9-6, 9-1, 9-5.
Under-9: Yohan Pandole bt Aditya Khatri 9-7, 8-10, 7-9, 9-1, 9-2.
Professionals: Rohit More bt Vijay Jangra 9-5, 9-1, 9-2; Sanjay Pawar bt Dashrath Tambe 7-9, 9-5, 9-1, 9-5.
Women: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Madhura Paranjpe (Mumbai) 9-3, 9-1, 9-3; Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Dr. Deepali Anwekar-Parikh (Mumbai) 9-6, 9-0, 9-2.
Girls' under-19: Dipika Pallikal bt Shanaz Dastur 9-1, 9-1, 9-2; Shivangi Paranjpe bt Madhura Paranjpe 9-5, 9-6, 7-9, 9-4.
Girls' under-15 (final): Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Ankita Sharma (Mumbai) 9-1, 9-0, 9-3.