India's ace woman squash player Dipika Pallikal thrashed Maria Toor Pakay of Pakistan in straight sets to storm into the final round of the qualifiers at the WSA Carol Weymuller Open Gold 50 event in New York.
Top seed in the qualifiers and world number 15, Dipika beat Maria, ranked 52nd, 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 on Tuesday.
The Indian will now face local hope Latasha Khan for a place in the main draw of the $50,000 tournament.
"I played Maria all my junior days and we always had close matches. Today, I tried twisting her and putting in cross courts and keeping her off her feet. It worked and she kept making errors at crucial points," Dipika was quoted as saying.
The tournanament field includes world's top five players, including number one Nicol David of Malaysia.