WORLD SQUASH NEWS
RESULTS: Women's Heliopolis Squash Open, Cairo, Egypt
Semi-finals:
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) bt [4] Cassie Jackman (ENG) 9-1, 9-5, 9-4 (38m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [2] Linda Charman (ENG) 9-2, 9-3, 10-8 (37m)
Owens & Grinham To Meet Again In Final
Just over a week after meeting in the final of the WISPA World Grand Finals
in Qatar, New Zealand's Carol Owens and Australia's Rachael Grinham will
contest the final of the $20,000 Women's Heliopolis Squash Open in Egypt - this time
with ranking points at stake.
Both players overcame their semi-final opponents in Cairo in straight games -
Owens, the top seed and defending champion, crushing England's Cassie Jackman
9-1 9-5 9-4 in 38 minutes after being taken to five games by the former world
No1 from Norfolk in the Qatar semi-finals.
The other semi-final also saw the demise of an Englishwoman, but third seed
Grinham's 9-2 9-3 10-8 upset over Linda Charman, the No2 seed, marked the first
victory the 26-year-old Australian has ever achieved over her experienced
opponent.
"Today was not only a good win for me to make the final, but also because
it's the first time that I've beaten Linda," said Grinham on her website
www.grinhamsisters.com "I have taken her to five games before but in the end was
never fit enough to do it. But I've improved a lot in the past 18 months and was
looking forward to another match with Linda to see how I could do against her
now.
"I think she may have been a little nervous, and I had the crowd on my side,
but I played really well," said the Queenslander who has now made Cairo her
base. "My confidence has grown throughout the tournament, and I felt that if I
played well I could do it."
After six successive WISPA World Tour losses to Owens since the beginning of
2002, Rachael Grinham will be hoping that 'home crowd' support will lead to
another breakthrough win in her 17th WISPA final.