Semi-finals:
English Triumph In Malaysian Battles
Cassie Jackman and Vicky Botwright will meet in an all-English final
after achieving straight games victories over Malaysians in the
semi-finals in Salt Lake City, USA.
Jackman, the top seed from Norfolk, ended unseeded Nicol David's run
with a 9-0 9-6 9-0 win over the two-times world junior champion from
Penang, David had earlier upset arch rival Rebecca Chiu, the fourth
seed from Hong Kong who beat the Malaysian in the 2002 Asian Games
final.
Vicky Botwright, the third seed from Manchester, defeated sixth seed
Sharon Wee 9-2 9-6 9-7 to reach her third WISPA World Tour final in
the US this year.
The final will mark the English pair's first meeting since February's
first round of the British National Championships which Jackman
survived in five games before going on to lift the title for a
record-equalling fifth time.
Quarters:
IT'S ENGLAND v MALAYSIA
IN SALT LAKE SEMIS
Both semi-finals of the Squashworks Open will
be England v Malaysia affairs, with Cassie Jackman facing Nicol David
and Vicky Botwright up against Sharon Wee.
Top seed Jackman cruised past
Ireland's Madeline Perry, while two-time world junior champion David
gained revenge for her Asian Games defeat with a 3/1 victory over
Rebecca Chiu.
Botwright saw off the challenge of
Yorkshire's Jenny Duncalf, while Wee took advantage of the withdrawal of
second seed Jenny Tranfield, beating qualifier Alison Waters 3/0 to
reach the semi-finals.
First round:
SEEDS ON SONG IN SALT LAKE
Malaysia's twice world junior squash champion Nicol David
pulled off the only, modest, upset on the opening day of the Women's
Squashworks Open in Salt Lake City, USA, to set up a mouth-watering
quarter-final clash with Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu.
David, still only 19, ruled Asian women's squash for a number of years
leading up to last October's Asian Games in South Korea. In a major
upset in the final, the title-holding teenager was beaten in straight
games by Chiu.
It was David's first loss to her Hong Kong rival in four meetings that
year, and her first Asian defeat since winning three Asian Championships
titles and the Asian Games gold medal in 1998.
In only her third WISPA event this year since taking a rest from the
World Tour since May last year, the unseeded Nicol David beat seventh
seed Latasha Khan, of the USA, 10-8 9-6 9-4 to set up her revenge match
with Chiu. Fourth-seeded Chiu defeated New Zealand's Lara Petera 9-6 9-1
10-8.
Fresh from leading England to success in the women's European Team
Championships on Sunday, top seed Cassie Jackman cruised to a 9-3 9-1
9-0 win over USA's Shabana Khan and now faces Ireland's Madeline Perry,
the 5th seed, for a place in the semi-finals.
Jackman's England team-mate Jenny Tranfield, her seeded opponent in the
final, withdrew from the event with a flu virus on arrival in the USA.
English qualifier Alison Waters became the beneficiary of this
withdrawal when she beat American 'lucky loser' Meredith Quick 9-2 9-6
9-3 to take Tranfield's anticipated slot in the quarter-finals.
Qualifying:
WATERS & QUICK GET LUCKY
BREAKS IN SALT LAKE CITY
Craig Bennett reports
England's second seed Jenny Tranfield has been forced to withdraw
due to illness, which means a big break for qualifier Alison Waters.
Instead of having to play the world # 10 Tranfield she now gets "lucky
loser" Meredith Quick of the USA, who was drawn to take Tranfield's
place.
The other
qualifiers are Mexico's Samantha Teran, who now faces Vicky Botwright,
and Australians Heidi Mather and Amelia Pittock.
US ELITE CHALLENGER EVENT
In addition to the 2003 Squashworks WISPA
Open matches, the U.S. players are playing a separate U.S. Elite
Challenger tournament sanctioned by the United States Squash Racquets
Association (USSRA).
There are six of the top U.S. professionals here in
Salt Lake City for both the WISPA tournament and this U.S. Challenger.
Results from this U.S. Challenger will be used to determine the three
spots on the U.S. National Team which represents the U.S. in the Pan
American Games.
These spots are very prestigious and coveted. The
U.S. players are really looking forward to this competition. Play in
the U.S. Challenger also begins on Thursday May 8th with two New
Yorkers: Julia Beaver vs. Carlin Wing @ 6:45 PM on Court # 2.
Thu results:
Julia Beaver defeated Carlin Wing
9-0, 9-1, 9-2
Fri results:
Meredeth Quick defeated Louisa Hall 9-5, 8-10, 9-6, 9-2
Shabana Khan defeated Carlin Wing 9-7, 9-0, 9-2
Sat results:
Latasha Khan defeated Meredeth Quick
9-5, 9-4, 10-8
Julia Beaver defeated Shabana Khan 9-1,
9-2, 9-3
Latasha Khan defeated Louisa Hall 7-9,
9-2, 9-0, 9-5
Sun results:
Latasha Khan defeated Julia Beaver 6-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-2
Meredeth Quick defeated Shabana Khan 9-2, 9-2, 5-9, 9-3
Louisa Hall defeated Carlin Wing 9-0, 9-0, 9-2
