Hanoi Joy For Dipika & Joshna In Inaugural Vietnam Open

Indians Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa scored notable upsets in today's quarter-finals of the Women's WISPA Vietnam Open at the Hanoi Club in Hanoi to reach the semi-finals of the maiden international squash championships to be staged in Vietnam.

"The national motto of Vietnam is 'Independence - Freedom - Happiness'," said WISPA Chief Executive Andrew Shelley, from Hanoi. "While all eight quarter-finalists in the WISPA Vietnam Open could boast the first two, only the four winners could claim a full house."

An Indian finalist was assured when sixth seed Dipika Pallikal upset Hong Kong's No3 seed Elise Ng, and Joshna Chinappa, the fifth seed, overcame second-seeded Dane Line Hansen in the final two matches of the day.

Ng found the first game tough going against Indian number two Dipika Pallikal, though edged home after a 19-minute battle. But 16-year-old Pallikal, the British Junior Open Under 17 champion, came back to take the next two games as the higher-ranked Ng seemed out of sorts.

But the Hong Kong player recovered from 4-7 down to win the fourth game and draw level. Pallikal, however, came back from 0-5 down in the decider to win 7-9, 9-1, 9-1, 7-9, 10-8 in 65 minutes.

After the match Ng revealed that she had felt unwell during stages of the encounter: "During the second and third everything was moving 30%. My head was strange. In the fourth I tried to rally but I thought I would lose but I got it back again. Before the fifth I took some sugar but this was the first time this has happened to me so I don't know what it was," said the 27-year-old from Hong Kong.

It took Chinappa 62 minutes to set up the unexpected all-Indian semi-final when - in her first WISPA World Tour meeting with Hansen - she beat the second seed 10-9, 9-7, 7-9, 9-7 in a match of great intensity.

Earlier, the packed crowd of enthusiasts at the Hanoi Club were unable to lift local heroine Josefa Bertilsson. The seventh-seeded Swede, who recently came to Hanoi when her father's work brought the family to the city, had a tough task to counter the top seed Louise Crome.

The Netherlands-based New Zealander went through in straight games as she picked up on any loose shots and errors made under pressure by Bertilsson, winning 9-3, 9-0, 9-1.

Crome will face fourth seed Donna Urquhart after the left-handed Australian brushed aside improving 18-year-old Japanese Misaki Kobayashi 9-0, 9-0, 9-2.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Louise Crome (NZL) bt [7] Josefa Bertilsson (SWE) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 (23m)
[4] Donna Urquhart (AUS) bt Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-2 (19m)
[6] Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [3] Elise Ng (HKG) 7-9, 9-1, 9-1, 7-9, 10-8 (65m)
[5] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [2] Line Hansen (DEN) 10-9, 9-7, 7-9, 9-7 (62m)