UniversalSportsClub Classic
Lambs Club, London, 5th ~ 9th Dec, $30k

Sweet revenge for Fitz-Gerald in final

Owens & Fitz-Gerald to contest Lambs final

'Flat' Owens through to semis ...

Macree upsets team-mate Bailey in first round ...

 

• Full Draw
   
• Reports & Results
   

9-0 9-1 9-4

Rebecca Macree

3-9 9-6 9-3 9-1

Sarah Fitz-Gerald

9-2 9-2 9-1

Sarah Fitz-Gerald

Top class women's squash comes to London, with 17 of the world's top 20 appearing at Lambs club. Newly-crowned world champion Carol Owens is top seed, with compatriot Sarah Fitz-Gerald seeded to meet her in the final. There's a strong English contingent though, and Tania Bailey, Natalie Grainger and Suzanne Horner will all be looking to upset the Aussie applecart ...

Natalie Grinham beat Dominique LLoyd- Walter 9-1, 9-2, 9-2  23min
Senga Macfie beat Louise Crome 9-1, 9-3, 9-4  23min
Ellen Petersen bt Vicky Lankester 9-1, 9-1, 5-9, 8-10, 9-2   74min
Vicky Botwright beat Carla Khan 9-3, 9-7, 0-9, 9-1   33min

1st round:
[1] Carol Owens (AUS) bt [Q] Vicky Botwright (ENG)              9-0, 9-0. 9-1
[7] Fiona Geaves (ENG) bt Stephanie Brind (ENG)                  9-6. 9-6, 9-6
Rebecca Macree (ENG) bt [3] Tania Bailey (ENG)                  10-8, 5-9, 7-9, 10-8, 9-4
Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Claire Nitch (RSA)                       1-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-5
[5] Suzanne Horner (ENG) bt Pamela Nimmo (SCO)               10-8, 9-5, 9-3
[4] Natalie Grainger (ENG) bt [Q] Natalie Grinham (AUS)         9-4, 10-9, 9-0
[6] Rachel Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Senga Macfie (SCO)             9-1, 9-4, 9-7
[2] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) bt [Q] Ellen Petersen (DEN)         9-1, 9-0, 9-3

MACREE UPSETS WORLD GOLD-MEDALLIST TEAM-MATE BAILEY
Unseeded Rebecca Macree, the profoundly deaf world No15 from Walthamstow in London, fought back from 2-1 down to upset England team-mate Tania Bailey, the No3 seed, 10-8, 5-9, 7-9, 10-8, 9-4 in today's first round of the $30,000 UniversalSportsClub Women's Squash Classic at Lambs Club in London.

Macree's magnificent 103-minute victory follows her debut in last month's Women's World Team Championships in Sheffield, where she helped England to reclaim the title after ten years in Australia's hands.  The 29-year-old now faces world No12 Vanessa Atkinson who beat South Africa's Claire Nitch 1-9 9-3 9-0 9-5.

Playing in her first WISPA World Tour event since winning the World Open title for the first time in Edinburgh last month, Australia's top-seeded Carol Owens cruised to a 9-0, 9-0. 9-1 victory over English qualifier Vicky
Botwright, from Manchester, in 21 minutes.

Owens' compatriot Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the No2 seed, took just 25 minutes in similarly dispatching Danish qualifier Ellen Petersen 9-1, 9-0, 9-3.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Carol Owens (AUS) bt [7] Fiona Geaves (ENG)            9-1 7-9 9-4 9-4
Rebecca Macree (ENG) bt Vanessa Atkinson (NED)         9-3 3-9 9-6 9-1
[4] Natalie Grainger (ENG) bt [5] Suzanne Horner (ENG)    9-3 9-2 9-3
[2] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) bt [6] Rachel Grinham (AUS)  9-2 2-9 9-1 9-1


FLAT OWENS THROUGH TO UNIVERSALSPORTSCLUB SEMIS
Despite feeling "a bit flat" in her first event since winning the World Open title last month, Australia's Carol Owens beat England's seventh seed Fiona Geaves 9-1 7-9 9-4 9-4 in 43 minutes in today's (Wednesday) quarter-finals of the $30,000 Women's UniversalSportsClub Squash Classic at Lambs Club in London.

"I allowed myself to get drawn into Fiona's drop and lob game in the second, but soon pulled myself back into line," said the top seed from Melbourne, now based in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Owens faces her third English opponent in Thursday's semi-finals, after unseeded Londoner Rebecca Macree - who removed third seed Tania Bailey in the opening round - overcame Dutch champion Vanessa Atkinson 9-3 3-9 9-6 9-1 in 45 minutes.

The other semi-final will also be an Anglo-Australian affair. Manchester-born fourth seed Natalie Grainger, a semi-finalist in last month's World Open in Edinburgh, became the only player to reach the last four without dropping a game when she cruised to a 9-3 9-2 9-3 victory in just 23 minutes over English compatriot Suzanne Horner, the fifth seed.

Nottingham-based Grainger's opponent will be No2 seed Sarah Fitz-Gerald, from Melbourne, who won her third game in 24 hours when she beat fellow Australian Rachael Grinham 9-2 2-9 9-1 9-1 in 27 minutes.  Fitz-Gerald, three-times a world champion, raced up to Birmingham last night after her first round match, to help lead Edgbaston Priory to an important win in the SRA National League.

Semi-Finals:
[1] Carol Owens (AUS) bt Rebecca Macree (ENG)   9-0 9-1 9-4
[2] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) bt [4] Natalie Grainger (ENG)   9-2 9-2 9-1


OWENS AND FITZ-GERALD TO CONTEST UNIVERSALSPORTSCLUB FINAL

Reigning world champion Carol Owens and three-times former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, both from Melbourne in Australia, will contest the final of the $30,000 Women's UniversalSportsClub Squash Classic after straight games victories in tonight's (Thursday) semi-finals at Lambs Club in London. It will be the pair's third meeting in successive WISPA Grand Prix events.

Fitz-Gerald, the world No5, took just 24 minutes to eliminate England's Natalie Grainger, the world No7 from Nottingham, 9-2 9-2 9-1 to reach her seventh WISPA World Tour final this year. "Natalie kept getting me on the
ropes, then making unforced errors," said the second seed. "She was jaded, which was fortunate for me."

Top seed Owens, who beat her compatriot in their meetings in the quarter-finals of the October's British Open and semi-finals of the World Open last month, ended unseeded Rebecca Macree's run in the other semi-final,
beating the world No15 from Essex in England, 9-0 9-1 9-4 in 35 minutes. 

Final:
[2] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) bt [1] Carol Owens (Aus)  3-9 9-6 9-3 9-1

For once, the scoreline accurately tells the story of the match ...

Australia's former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald beat her compatriot and  current world champion Carol Owens in the 43-minute final. Owens started strongly, taking the first game from 0-3 down as Fitz-Gerald made a string of errors, some forced as Owens played a steady, tight game. As the match wore on though Owens' concentration and commitment diminished as Fitz-Gerald's increased, and by the end it was Owens making the mistakes as Fitz-Gerald played some exquisite squash. 

This was revenge for Fitz-Gerald, after defeat at the hands of Owens in the British Open and World Open, and could herald a return to the top after almost two years of injury problems ...