Joshna Chinnappa flattered to deceive as she went down in straight games to Orla Noom in the final of the WISPA Challenger-2 squash tournament here Saturday.
Joshna, ranked higher than the Dutch player at 33, hardly got going in a contest that was a huge disappointment for the home supporters. The 23-year old Chennai-based India No.1 was far too fidgety and in her anxiety to win her fourth WISPA title, committed mistakes by the dozen to go down 8-11, 4-11, 10-12.
In contrast, Orla kept her nerves and was always in front. Her strategy of keeping Joshna pinned to the backcourt, besides keeping the rallies short, worked wonders for the 41st ranked Dutch player.
Only in patches did Joshna showed some spark, but overall, was wayward and, as per her own admission, nervous as Noom wrapped up the match in 35 minutes.
In the PSA Challenger-4 tournament for men, Ivan Yuen of Malaysia annexed his first pro title by overcoming Mark Kracsak of Hungary 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 in a 45-minute final.
