Houston, April 14 (IANS): India's top squash player Deepika Pallikal, eyeing the first major title of her career, went down to 18-year-old Egyptian Nour El Sherbini in the Women’s Champion Fiberglass Texas Open here Monday.
World No. 12 Deepika lost to the teenage qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 in 48 minutes.
Former Asian Junior Champion Deepika marched into the biggest Tour final of her career in sensational style.
The 22-year-old world No. 12 from Chennai battled for 75 minutes, enduring three tie-break games, to beat second seed Madeline Perry, the Irish number one ranked four places higher in the world, in the semis.
The junior world champion from Egypt leapt from 27 to 13 in the WSA World Rankings after her historic World Championship run in March, which saw her beat world number one Nicol David in Malaysia, and is sure to improve on this position after her latest win in the May list.