RESULTS: Women's Hurghada Squash International, Hurghada, Egypt
Final:
[2] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 9-6, 9-2, 7-9, 0-9, 9-2 (75m)
Third Time Lucky For Omneya In Hurghada
It was third time lucky for Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy in the final of the Women's Hurghada Squash International when the 20-year-old runner-up for the past two years finally beat Australia's two-times champion Rachael Grinham to lift the prestigious WISPA World Tour title for the first time.
But it was a double blow for Grinham, the former world No1 from Queensland, who earlier in the day discovered that she had been overtaken in the world rankings for the first time by her kid sister Natalie Grinham!
There was a packed crowd surrounding the all-glass court erected on the main promenade of the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in Egypt – all hoping to witness local heroine Omneya Abdel Kawy finally get the better of the higher-ranked Australian who had won their six successive Tour meetings over the past three years – two of which had been on the same court under the same balmy evening conditions by the Red Sea.
Kawy leapt to a 7-0 lead in the first game before Grinham responded. The Australian pulled back four points, but two errors gave Abdel Kawy game ball – and at the third time of asking the Egyptian tempted Grinham into the wrong half of the court and a drive to the other meant she was one up.
The crowd erupted - the cacophony continuing throughout the break and completely drowning out the officials' call to the players to return to the court! Kawy forged ahead again as she had done in the first – and after only eight minutes reached game ball with another flicked backhand across the court. When the Australian floated the ball out of court to end the next rally, pandemonium followed again in the stands.
In the final twelve months earlier, Grinham had come back from two games down to win 10-8 in the fifth. Could history be about to be repeated? Grinham took a 7-2 lead, at which point errors began to flow from the Egyptian's racket. When the Australian took the third game, after a stroke against Kawy, the fans were quietened - until the interval music brought the crowd onto their feet and back in festival mode!
The fourth game mirrored the early stages of the third. The usual blend of Grinham lobs, holds, gut-wrenching boasts and a few other speciality moves took her all the way to 9-0 in a mere seven minutes.
Each point Kawy won in the decider sent the crowd chanting 'Omneya, Omneya …'. The chants became more overpowering as Kawy extended a 4-2 lead to 8-2, and match-ball – by which time few in the audience were sitting. Grinham hit a return out over the front wall and all order disappeared in an outpouring of sheer joy. Their Egyptian darling had done it at last – in a stunning 9-6, 9-2, 7-9, 0-9, 9-2 victory in 75 minutes.
Acknowledging her family and the whole crowd, Abdel Kawy had a smile as wide as the Nile as she received the trophy from Hassan Sakr, President of Egypt's National Council of Sport.
As the happy crowd slowly ebbed away, Abdel Kawy admitted that it had not been easy: "I put a lot of pressure on myself when I was 2/0 up and I played badly at the start of the third. I got better but it is too late to improve when Rachael is already winning. Then in the fourth I wasn't there, but thank God in the fifth I played good," she said.
"I guess I am a famous person in Egypt now!” she said, only half joking. “The crowd were so happy to have an Egyptian winner and I think that Rachael was a little shocked by them and I took advantage at the start. Then they helped me to come back in the fifth."
Grinham, based in Cairo, will return to the capital - doubtless reflecting on what went wrong as she crosses the desert on the five-hour run by car. “I felt good after last night and played okay generally but I wasn't quite good enough.
“The crowd were behind her but it didn't affect me. It was strange because the game was very up and down and it was difficult to really get a rhythm."