India's Joshna Chinappa overcame a stiff challenge from compatriot Dipika Pallikal to set up a title clash with Orla Noom of the Netherlands in the WISPA Challenger-2 event at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai.
Chinappa won the game in straight sets 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 in 25 minutes to end Pallikal's challenge.
Playing at home after a gap of over two years, Chinappa, looking to win her fourth WISPA title, exhibited a variety of shots to flummox Pallikal.
In the PSA Challenger-4 semi-final matches, sixth seed Ivan Yuen maintained his tempo to get the better of his compatriot, Muhd Asraf Azan (fifth seed) 10-12, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8 in 81 minutes.
Second seed Mark Krajcsak of Hungary scored a hard earned win over third seeded Mathieu Castagnet of France 12-10, 15-13, 10-12, 11-8 in 83 minutes.
In the first WISPA semi-final, Noom scalped top seeded Sharon Wee of Malaysia 11-6,11-9, 11-7 in 28 minutes.
Chinappa, world ranked 35, was at her best throughout the match. Chinappa excelled finding the corners most often for winners and her delicately executed drop shots also helped her secure points.
Though Chinappa was rather casual in approach at times, Pallikal didn't get a chance to engage her senior rival in long rallies. This was Chinappa's second win over Pallikal in WISPA event as she earlier had defeated Pallikal 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 in Vietnam Open in 2008.
After the match, Chinappa said, "I had prepared for the match mentally because Dipika has been playing well in the circuit."
"In fact, she had defeated higher ranked players with whom I had struggled. Dipika had played well but I did not give her any opportunity to play shots, which is her strong point. I needed to go for winners early enough before being dragged on rallies, which I was able to succeed," Chinappa added.
She also added that she needed to improve on her fitness for winning more WISPA events.
"My aim is to reach top 20 and then look forward to go further up in WISPA," she said.
