Pallikal loses in pre-quarters of World Open

India's Dipika Pallikal squandered a one-game lead and went down to Egypt's Raneem El Weleily in the pre-quarter-finals of the women's World Open Squash Championship in the Grand Cayman Islands, in the Caribbean.

Pallikal, ranked world No 10 and seeded 13th in the tournament, lost to second seed Weleily 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 5-11 in 38 minutes at the South Sound squash club on Wednesday.

The match witnessed short rallies, with the two going for their shots and scoring outright winners at regular intervals.

"We have very similar games and it's always close between us. She had me all over the court for a while so I'm pleased to be able to come through to win it like that; it was far from an easy win," said the Egyptian.

The Chennai girl had defeated Malaysian qualifier Delia Arnold 3-0 in the first round of the US $188,000 WISPA event.