WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open Squash Championships, Green Island, Kuwait

Men's 1st round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 10-11 (7-9), 11-8, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0) (82m)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 (42m)
[4] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt [Q] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-1 (29m)
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 10-11 (5-7), 11-3, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (64m)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-1, 11-10 (3-1), 11-4 (29m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (23m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 (42m)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [Q] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-7, 11-9, 11-1 (40m)
    Women's 1st round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Vicky Botwright (ENG) 6-9, 9-7, 10-8, 9-4 (80m)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) bt [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) 9-6, 5-9, 10-8, 9-3 (60m)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 10-8, 9-3, 9-5 (35m)
[Q] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) bt [7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 6-9, 9-4, 2-9, 9-3, 9-2 (52m)
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [Q] Tania Bailey (ENG) 9-0, 2-9, 9-3, 9-7 (36m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt Fiona Geaves (ENG) 9-1, 9-10, 9-5, 9-1 (44m)
Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [8] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) 8-10, 9-7, 2-9, 9-4, 10-9 (86m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [Q] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) 9-7, 9-2, 9-3 (27m)

Lengthorn Overpowers Omneya, While It's 15 Up For Vanessa

English qualifier Laura-Jane Lengthorn captured a notable scalp on the opening day of action in the women's Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open Squash Championships when she toppled seventh-seeded Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy to reach the last eight of the second WISPA World Tour Grand Prix event of the year, on Green Island, Kuwait.

In the men's event, which is also dedicated to the memory of Sheikha Al Sa'ad Al-Sabah, a member of the Kuwaiti Royal family who died two years ago, defending champion Peter Nicol took just 29 minutes to overcome fellow left-hander Mansoor Zaman to reach the quarter-finals.

Lengthorn, the world No21 from Preston in Lancashire, had never before beaten Kawy, ranked 12 places higher - but recovered from a game down to upset the 19-year-old world junior champion 6-9 9-4 2-9 9-3 9-2 in 52 minutes.

"I am just delighted," said the 21-year-old afterwards.  "I have never beaten Omneya before and I think she cracked here.  I won the fourth game quite well and the fifth went my way a bit at the start.  I knew I could take it if I stayed strong and kept playing my own game."

Lengthorn now takes on Malaysia's Nicol David - Kawy's predecessor as world junior champion - after the fourth seed despatched New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen 10-8 9-3 9-5 in 35 minutes.

Second seed Vanessa Atkinson notched up her 15th successive match win on the WISPA Tour when she beat Scottish qualifier Pamela Nimmo 9-7 9-2 9-3 in 27 minutes to make amends for her surprise first round loss at the same stage last year.  The in-form woman player of the moment, Atkinson clinched the World Open title in the final event of last year, then won the Tournament of Champions crown in New York last month to extend her unbeaten run.

England selectors will undoubtedly have watched with interest the all-Yorkshire first round battle between eighth seed Jenny Tranfield and unseeded Jenny Duncalf, after the latter beat the former in the recent British National Championships.  This time, the result was reversed, as Duncalf caused the second upset in the women's event to beat Tranfield 8-10 9-7 2-9 9-4 10-9 in an 86-minute marathon.  Duncalf's reward is a quarter-final clash with Atkinson.

In the men's event, fourth seed Nicol's 11-10 11-6 11-1 victory over Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman takes the former world No1 through to a quarter-final meeting with Australia's Anthony Ricketts, the last person to beat the Englishman on the PSA Tour.  Ricketts prevailed in the last eight of the Tournament of Champions in New York before going on to pick up the first Super Series title of his career.

Ricketts was made to work hard for his first round victory.  The seventh-seeded Australian was taken to five games by qualifier Mohammed Abbas before beating the Egyptian 10-11 11-3 11-7 8-11 11-4 in 64 minutes. 

In the first of the final two games of the night, Australia's third seed David Palmer extinguished local interest in the event when he despatched wild-carded Kuwaiti Abdullah Almezayen 11-9 11-6 11-5 in just 23 minutes.

The audience was treated to a more evenly-contested battle for the finale when Thierry Lincou, the world No1 and world champion, took on Australian Joseph Kneipp.  It took the top-seeded Frenchman 82 minutes to get the better of unseeded Kneipp, a former world No10 - and, after losing a long first game which went to 9-7 in the tie-break, Lincou went on the record a 10-11 11-8 11-9 11-10 victory and claim a place in the last eight.

Official site:  http://www.sheikhasquash.com