There was not much to choose between the two finalists yesterday. Dipika played better in the crucial stages of the 42-minute contest, capping off a memorable week with a 12-10, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9 victory. “It seems all the summer training is paying off now.

I trained really hard on and off the court. Beating Natalie in the semi-finals gave me a lot of confidence. She is the most experienced player on the circuit,” the World No 17 said.

Dipika, the first Indian to break into the top-10, had beaten another higher-ranked player, Kasey Brown of Australia, in a New York tournament earlier in the month.
“It is time I beat the top-10 players regularly. One of the reasons I have started beating them is Ken Way,” she said of the sports psychologist.

Tanvi Lad in Swiss International final
India’s badminton player Tanvi Lad reached her maiden international final by beating Yuka Kusunose (Japan) in the singles semi-final at the Swiss International Challenge tournament in Yverdon-Ies-Bains, Switzerland yesterday. She meets Beiwen Zhang of USA in the final.