WORLD SQUASH NEWS

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

Quarter-finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [8] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) w/o
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [6] Natalie Grainger (USA) 9-3, 9-5, 9-4 (36m)
[7] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [4] Nicol David (MAS) 9-1, 9-7, 9-2 (35m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [5] Linda Elriani (ENG) 9-3, 1-9, 9-5, 0-9, 9-6 (51m)

Vicky Vanquishes David In Dallas

England's Vicky Botwright stole the limelight in the quarter-finals of the Women's Texas Open Squash Championship when she crushed fourth seed Nicol David in a dramatic upset in the WISPA Grand Prix event at the Plaza of The Americas in downtown Dallas in the USA.  David, winner of the Kuwait Open in March - the previous Grand Prix event - went down 9-1 9-7 9-2 to put seventh seed Botwright into a semi-final against second seed Vanessa Atkinson.

The other semi-final will be a family affair - between Australian sisters Rachael and Natalie Grinham, the No1 and No3 seeds, respectively.

Botwright was on fire in her battle against the higher-ranked Malaysian Nicol David.  Boasting a stunning array of tight drops and strong volleys, the Englishwoman raced ahead against a seemingly unsettled opponent to take the opening game.  When Botwright took the second with a straight drop that David couldn't quite prise away from the side wall, it still seemed likely that there were to be more episodes in the series.

Yet the fightback never materialised.  David was demoralised and Botwright did not falter.  With a whoop Botwright saluted her straight games success, while David wandered away wondering how it had all gone so wrong.  When asked this very question, David mustered up the thought that she hadn't focused properly and fed her opponent too much:  "She stopped me playing my game and she didn't make many errors.  She deserved it," conceded the Malaysian.

Botwright, still grinning from ear to ear about making the last four, was reliving the unexpected lack of fightback from her opponent.  "Nicol has a tendency to be down in games then win them.  Maybe this court suited me better as it holds a shot," said the 27-year-old from Manchester as she headed off to watch the Dallas Mavericks basketball team.

Atkinson's quarter-final against the on-song Linda Elriani produced the anticipated high-quality encounter.   Both blended lobs with volley boasts to stretch their opponent and slotted in telling drives to further their aim of leaving their opponent in a corner.  Atkinson took the first, but the England No1 got away in the second before the Dutch star regained the initiative in the third.

However, in the fourth game Elriani was able to dictate the play more, sending the world champion back and dropping well.  Taking it, she levelled the scores to send the match into a decider.  Here positions were reversed as Atkinson piled on the first four points.  After a moment of concern as a brief hobble was corrected with appropriate stretching, Atkinson went on to wrap up the win 9-3 1-9 9-5 0-9 9-6 in 51 minutes.

"My lapses of concentration were ridiculous!  Linda was so on top when I did and played really good squash," Atkinson said afterwards. 

Meanwhile Elriani was philosophical in defeat, knowing that her solid run of form was continuing. "I'm really enjoying playing again even though I lost today.  I just want to keep it going - ideally right through to the Commonwealth Games."

Local heroine Natalie Grainger, the sixth seed from Washington, had looked less than convincing in reaching the quarter finals - and when she took to the glass court against third seed Natalie Grinham there was little spark.  Although she had beaten Grinham 3/0 in the last eight of the Kuwait Open a month ago there seemed no prospect of a repeat this time.

The Australian was clearly adopting a different approach in Dallas than she had in the Gulf - and was relentless in chasing down every ball from Grainger.  Too often Grainger dominated a rally only to lose it at the end with a frustrated tin.  Too often, Grainger could only turn away wondering why she was not doing better.

"I got carried away last week and simply over-trained," said the American after Grinham's 9-3 9-5 9-4 victory in 36 minutes.  "Things were going so well, I couldn't bring myself to stop.  Mind you, Natalie was playing very well and was very quick."

Natalie Grinham, the Netherlands-based world No3 from Toowoomba in Queensland, set up a semi-final against her sister after Rachael Grinham, the world No1 and defending champion, was given a walkover by her opponent Jenny Tranfield. 

The eighth seed from England was forced to concede her tie to the older Grinham after injuring her ankle during the first game of her match against Shelley Kitchen the night before.  While she managed to ignore it and complete the win, morning practice indicated that all was not right - a diagnosis confirmed by the England Squash Physio who prescribed a few days rest to settle it down.

A battle between two sisters is something that has occurred fairly regularly.  Indeed in this event two years ago, on the same court, Natalie registered her first ever win against Rachael.  Strangely though, the last time they played a WISPA Tour final was over four years ago, a fact explained away by Natalie:  "Whenever we are in different halves of the draw, one or both of us stuffs it up!"