Joshna Chinappa

Los Angeles: Joshna Chinappa caused a major upset beating seventh seed Aisling Blake of Ireland to enter the quarter finals of $23,000 Epstein Becker and Green La Squash Open here.

The Indian beat Aisling 9-4, 6-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-7 in a 68-minute contest to become the only unseeded player to enter the last eight on Thursday.

Joshna took the first game but Aisling rallied to take the lead after blanking the Indian in the third game.

The last two games were keenly contested but Joshna came out on top recovering from 4-7 in the fourth and 0-4 in the fifth to cause the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

The Indian has another tough match on hand as she will take on third seed Raneem El Weleily in the quarter finals. Weleily brushed aside England’s Jenna Gates’ challenge in just 19 minutes beating her 9-1, 9-1, 9-1.

Another Indian in the fray, qualifier Dipika Pallikal, lost to sixth seed Manuela Manetta of Italy in the first round. Dipika went down 2-9, 3-9, 7-9 in 28 minutes.