WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Credit Suisse Privilege Women's World Open Squash Championship, Hong Kong

Quarter-finals:
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) bt [7] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-6, 9-3, 9-1 (35m)
[6] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 9-1, 9-0, 3-9, 10-8 (43m)
[4] Cassie Jackman (ENG) bt [5] Linda Charman (ENG) 9-5, 5-9, 9-3, 9-1 (52m)
Nicol David (MAS) bt [13] Fiona Geaves (ENG) 9-4, 9-1, 2-9, 9-2 (28m)

David's World Open Rise Contrasted By Australia's Fall

On the same day that Malaysia's unseeded Nicol David became the first Asian to reach the last four of the Credit Suisse Privilege Women's World Open Squash Championship in the 24-year history of the event, seeded sisters Rachael and Natalie Grinham crashed out of today's (Thursday) quarter-finals in Hong Kong to leave the semi-finals bereft of any Australian interest for the first time since 1985.

Twenty four hours after her shock defeat of the USA's second seed Natalie Grainger, former world junior champion Nicol David, aged 20, brushed aside experienced 36-year-old Fiona Geaves, the 13th seed, 9-4 9-1 2-9 9-2 in just 28 minutes.  The pint-sized player from Penang will next meet fourth seed Cassie Jackman, the Englishwoman she defeated in last month's Dutch Open quarter-finals.

Against Geaves, David was a bundle of carefully-directed energy, relaxing from a crisp and well-directed deep attack only in a third game in which she allowed her opponent to introduce the short attacking style on which she has built a long career.

After a break from the WISPA World Tour last year, David has recovered her momentum since joining the professional group based under the coaching guidance of former Australian international Liz Irving in Amsterdam.  After reaching two WISPA Tour finals this year without a seeding, David leapt to a career-high No13 in the latest world rankings.

Jackman suggests she was not too well when she was beaten in Maastricht, but the 30-year-old former world champion is in good health in Hong Kong and not suffering one of her occasional spells of discomfort relating to double spinal surgery over the past couple of years.

The fourth seed defeated Linda Charman, the fifth seed, 9-5 5-9 9-3 9-1 in a 52-minute all-England quarter-final, losing control only during a second game period when she began to merely hit the ball instead of hitting shots.  "I just had to get my concentration going again," said the five-times British National Champion, acknowledging that the unexpected removal of Grainger from the bottom half of the draw had improved her chances of reaching a fourth World Open final and her prospects of adding to the sole win she achieved in Seattle in 1999.

In the top half of the draw Carol Owens, the top-seeded world No1 from New Zealand, was smiling broadly tonight, and it was not just because she had just defeated Natalie Grinham of Australia 9-6 9-3 9-1 in a 35-minute quarter-final.

It was the earlier 43-minute 9-1 9-0 3-9 10-8 removal of the third-seeded Rachael Grinham, Natalie's elder sister, by Vanessa Atkinson of The Netherlands that brought the 32-year-old from Auckland to high humour at the prospect of a semi-final against Atkinson, who she defeated for a couple of points the last time they met in the World Team Championship in Denmark last year.

"When I first heard about Rachael losing, I became surprisingly tense," Owens said.  "I came into this tournament knowing that I probably had to beat both the Grinham sisters to reach the final, and remembering that it was the stress of dealing with Rachael in the Qatar semi-finals last week that left me too beat up to play decently in that final.

"Suddenly, just as I was about to go on for the first half of the Grinham double, I heard that Rachael was no longer there.  It took me half a game or so to relax and realise that, with the bottom half of the draw falling apart a bit also, things had actually became a whole lot simpler.  And once I relaxed I started to play pretty well."

In truth, Atkinson played pretty well also.  She opened at a high pace against one of the fastest movers in the game, running the ball high and deep to keep Rachael Grinham out of the front court area from which the fast-footed Cairo-based Australian likes to invent unpredictable assaults.

"We played last week in Qatar and Rachael beat me even though I thought I was playing pretty well. Here I had a game plan developed out of that defeat and I stuck to it most of the time.  I was a bit lucky to get a penalty stroke on match-ball instead of a let, but I thought I was back in charge by that time after fighting back from 3-7 down," said the seven-times Dutch champion.

Grinham senior, who had been hoping to add a Word Open title to the British Open trophy she collected last June after beating Owens in the semi-finals, admitted: "I just couldn't get hold of things at all.  Vanessa slowed down a bit in the third game and I managed to put a few rallies together, but at 7-3 in the fourth I started to get a stitch and, while I was just working to keep things rolling until the problem passed, Vanessa started firing in long drops and picked up the pace again.  When she got it back to 8-8 I knew I was back in trouble."

The World Open action now moves from Hong Kong Island across the Harbour to the mainland where the semi-finals will be played outdoors on the Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, adjacent to the Harbour, with Hong Kong's distinctive skyline of towers, all lit for Christmas, providing a stunning backdrop.  It will be the first time that the Women's World Open has been staged outdoors.

England's ninth seed Rebecca Macree returned to the arena today after being released from hospital where she received treatment for badly sprained ligaments.  Supported by crutches, Macree reported that, though there are no broken bones, she will be out of action for at least two months.

Official website: www.worldsquashopen.com/