Canadian qualifier Hollie Naughton claimed the biggest scalp during the
opening day of main draw action at the 2016 Monte Carlo Classic after
defeating 2007 World Champion Rachael Grinham to reach the quarter-final
stage of the PSA W25 tournament.
World No.47 Naughton came into the tournament off the back of a first
tournament win of 2016 at the Nicola Wealth Open, and her fine form
extended into her encounter with number three seed Grinham, recovering
from a game down to win 8-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-1.
Naughton will line up against England’s Millie Tomlinson for a place in
her first ever W25 semi-final after Tomlinson overcame United States
No.2 Olivia Blatchford in five games.
They will be joined in the quarter-finals by tournament top seed
Victoria Lust, who rose to a routine win over wildcard Laura Pomportes.
Lust, the World No.17, will face fellow Englishwoman Fiona Moverley in
the next round, with Hull-based Moverley seeing off Belgian qualifier
Nele Gilis in round one.
Elsewhere, Australia’s Donna Urquhart dispatched Egypt’s Hania El
Hammamy in a 3-1 victory and will meet another Egyptian, qualifier Hana
Ramadan, next after Ramadan’s first round opponent, Coline Aumard,
suffered an ankle injury.
Denmark’s Line Hansen and number eight seed Nadine Shahin will go
head-to-head in the other quarter-final fixture courtesy of respective
wins over Kanzy Emad El Defrawy and Milou van der Heijden.
