India’s Anaka Alankamony claimed her second title on the women’s professional squash tour and her first one abroad when she stunned top seed Kylie Lindsay of New Zealand to win the Ipswich Open in Queensland on Sunday.
The 18-year-old trainee at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai took advantage of a string of errors from the world number 39 to win in straight games 11-8, 13-11, 11-5 in hot and humid conditions.
Alankamony, ranked 93, in the world had earlier beaten sixth seeded South African Cheyna Tucker in the semi-finals, a sapping five-gamer, and fourth ranked Christine Nunn in the quarters to round off a weekend of upsets.
She settled far quicker than Lindsay in the final and took control in all three games to record a comfortable win. “It’s been an amazing week for me, I was seventh seed for this tournament so it feels really good to win. I had a five-setter in the morning today and yesterday I had a five setter and a four setter, so it was a long day yesterday and today, but I feel really wonderful now,” she said.