SYDNEY: India's Rathika Suthanthira Seelan lost a fiercely-contested final to Canadian top seed Iman Shaheen over five games in the NSW Open squash tournament here on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Rathika, second seed and world No.180, rallied to win the third and fourth games in what was her fourth PSA final to take the Challenger event title-round down to the wire.
However, the Canadian edged her out in the decider to seal a hard-fought 11-8, 11-3, 4-11, 10-12, 12-10 in 61 minutes.
Earlier on Saturday, Rathika stormed into her fourth PSA final with straight-games win over New Zealand's sixth seed Emma Merson.
Meanwhile, in Springfield (US), fifth seed and world No.51 Veer Chotrani beat American world No.32 and third seed Timothy Brownell 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 in the semifinals of the St James Expression Open, a PSA Copper event.
Chotrani will meet Mexican top seed Leonel Cardenas in the final.