WORLD SQUASH NEWS
RESULTS: Nivea Women's Irish Open Squash Championship, Dublin, Ireland
1st round:
Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) 9-1, 7-9, 9-6, 9-2 (46m)
[5] Fiona Geaves (ENG) bt Annelize Naude (NED) 9-1, 10-8, 9-0 (23m)
[3] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [Q] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 9-5, 8-10, 9-5, 9-4 (43m)
Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [7] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) 9-7, 9-2, 9-3 (37m)
[8] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [Q] Wendy Maitland (SCO) 9-5, 9-10, 9-7, 9-0 (47m)
[4] Rebecca Macree (ENG) bt [Q] Tegwen Malik (WAL) 6-9, 9-6, 9-1, 10-9 (75m)
[6] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 9-7, 9-7, 9-0 (37m)
[2] Cassie Jackman (ENG) bt [Q] Laura Lengthorn (ENG) 9-0, 9-1, 9-4 (24m)
Smooth Run For English Players In Nivea Irish Open
England are already guaranteed a finalist in the Nivea Women's Irish Open
Squash Championship after the completion of the first round at the
Fitzwilliam Club in Dublin - despite the last-minute withdrawal of top seed
Linda Charman, the world No3 from Sussex.
While Charman continues to recover from an infection, second-seeded
compatriot Cassie Jackman raced to a 9-0 9-1 9-4 win over English qualifier
Laura Lengthorn in just 24 minutes to reach a quarter-final clash with
another English opponent Jenny Tranfield, the sixth seed.
The adjacent quarter-final pairing will also be an all-English battle between
fourth seed Rebecca Macree and eighth seed Vicky Botwright - a clash which,
like the Jackman/Tranfield encounter, will feature one player selected this
week to represent England in next month's European Championships, and the
other who just missed out.
Macree, who will make her debut in the forthcoming European Championships,
was fully extended by Welsh qualifier Tegwen Malik before eventually
triumphing 6-9 9-6 9-1 10-9 in 75 minutes, while Botwright also needed four
games to overcome Scottish qualifier Wendy Maitland 9-5 9-10 9-7 9-0 in 47
minutes.
On an adjacent court, Scottish No1 Pamela Nimmo became the only seeding
casualty - much to the delight of the local crowd. Unseeded Irish star
Madeline Perry, ranked five places below, beat world No15 Nimmo 9-7 9-2 9-3
in 37 minutes to set up a meeting in the last eight with third-seeded Dutch
No1 Vanessa Atkinson.