WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Women's Texas Open Squash Championship, Dallas, USA

2nd round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [15] Tania Bailey (ENG) 9-5, 9-1, 9-1 (42m)
[8] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) bt [11] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 9-3, 9-1, 9-3 (30m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 9-2, 9-2, 8-10, 9-5 (63m)
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [10] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 7-9, 6-9, 9-1, 9-3, 9-7 (62m)
[7] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt Samantha Teran (MEX) 9-5, 9-3, 9-1 (38m)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) bt Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 9-5, 4-9, 9-1, 9-2 (43m)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) bt [12] Madeline Perry (IRL) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 (31m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Alison Waters (ENG) 9-5, 6-9, 6-9, 9-2, 9-0 (64m)

Home Hero Grainger Scrapes Through In Dallas

US star Natalie Grainger had to fight back from two games down to claim her anticipated place in the quarter-finals of the Women's Texas Open Squash Championship at the Plaza of The Americas in downtown Dallas in the USA.

Action in the WISPA Grand Prix event had moved onto the WISPA glass court for the round of sixteen - and opened with a lunchtime cracker as the sixth seed found herself fighting a rearguard action against England's 22-year-old Jenny Duncalf, seeded ten.

The arena in the Plaza of The Americas was thronged with lunching office workers intrigued with the proceedings.  And just as they thought that their home player would be shown the door, Washington-based Grainger began to take the pace off the ball, hold shots a little longer and wait until genuine openings appeared.

These tactics brought her back into contention to level the match and then move ahead 7-3 in the decider.  But Duncalf, who first learned to play squash in Texas, is nothing if not dogged.  The world No10 saved a match ball at 8-6 with a dying drive, then won the next point - and felt that she had a clear stroke to take the game to setting, but the referee decided otherwise. This evened up the contested decisions at the end and left Grainger to close out the match 7-9 6-9 9-1 9-3 9-7 in 62 minutes.

Duncalf, who had beaten Grainger in five games at the Tournament of Champions in February, was understandably disconsolate:  "I was playing well and hitting the back corners for the first couple of games, but then she slowed it down and I started slashing at the ball."

Grainger will now face namesake Natalie Grinham after the third-seeded Australian beat Egypt's ninth seed Omneya Abdel Kawy 9-2 9-2 8-10 9-5 in 63 minutes.  The younger Grinham sister was cruising against the world junior champion and seemed to have everything under control for a quick finish.  But having kept her nose in front for the whole of the third and reached match-ball, the Egyptian produced one of her outrageous and deadly volley drops off serve to cling on.

The next four points were reeled off with a series of kills as Omneya forced the match into a fourth game.  The teenaged Egyptian continued to compete strongly in the fourth but Grinham had been stung.  Her drops were shorter, lobs longer and she resumed normal control.

"I had taken off well and I thought her head would go down," said Grinham.  "She really surprised me, she got really steady went for shots and made them."

In the shortest match of the day, England's Jenny Tranfield took her place in the last eight with a straight games win over Shelley Kitchen.  It was Kiwi athleticism versus English obduracy, with the latter prevailing as eighth seed Tranfield, who has just turned 30, won 9-3 9-1 9-3 in 30 minutes.

Tranfield's reward is a meeting with Australian title-holder and world number one Rachael Grinham, who followed her sister into the quarters via a 42-minute victory over a disbelieving Tania Bailey.

"She played so well, everything she did was perfect," said the English 15th seed after Grinham's 9-5 9-1 9-1 win in 42 minutes.  "I played 120% and there was nothing I could do!" 

In the fourth of six ties involving English players, Vicky Botwright stifled the challenge of surprise package Samantha Teran who had put out Rebecca Chiu the night before.  The Mexican raced to a five-point lead in the first but then slowly found that Botwright getting to grips with her driving and general lack of interest in going short, and became able to stretch her a little too far in response. 

The only black spot of Botwright's day was that which angrily formed on her thigh after being struck by the ball as she moved across Teran a smidgen too early! 

After her 9-5 9-3 9-1 win, seventh seed Botwright will face Malaysia's Nicol David, the fourth seed who beat France's Isabelle Stoehr 9-5 4-9 9-1 9-2 in 43 minutes.

As dusk descended and offices emptied, departing staff were able to enjoy the spectacle of Linda Elriani driving full bore into the quarters.  The English number one's year of consistent quality brought about by a sustained spell of fitness shows no sign of letting up and Ireland's Madeline Perry, no slouch herself at present, was left flailing. 

Elriani was unstoppable:  "I felt really good out there," explained the fifth seed after her 9-3 9-0 9-1 victory in 31 minutes.

The final match up of the evening seemed likely to be a straightforward passage for world champion Vanessa Atkinson, despite her opponent being the burgeoning WISPA Tour talent that is Alison Waters.  It was a fitting finale - the WISPA Player of the Year against the WISPA Young Player of the year!

While Atkinson settled into her game from the start, 20-year-old Waters was not overawed and as she started to slot overheads home across court and generally pressure the Dutchwoman.  The fast-improving English player took both the second and third games to move improbably ahead.  However, Atkinson then started to become more difficult to shift from the tee, volleying early and deeply, and causing the Waters error ratio to rise as she was stretching further and further to make contact with the ball.

Atkinson soon restored order and romped to a 9-5 6-9 6-9 9-2 9-0 win in 64 minutes.  "Alison was on fire.  I felt pretty good but sometimes being the underdog brings out the best in an opponent.  She was volleying so well that I had to keep her back and get better width to pull through," said Atkinson.