Forbes Open 2004
11-14 Mar, Southport, USA, $10k 

Vicky finally gets
her first title
A year after reaching her first WISPA World Tour final in Southport, Connecticut, England's Vicky Botwright has marked her return to the US city by claiming her maiden title after beating Canada's Reta Runa in the final.

Botwright, the top seed from Manchester, reached the final without dropping a game and in commanding style wrapped up the first game against her unseeded opponent without conceding a point.

Reta, the 23-year-old world No41 from Ottawa who upset both the second and third seeds on the way to her second WISPA final in a week, regained her confidence in the second game - but world No11 Botwright was too strong as she marched to her historic victory.

Botwright followed her Forbes breakthrough in January last year by reaching three further WISPA finals over the rest of the year. But this long-awaited trophy success is sure to push the Lancashire lass back into the world's top ten before too long.
 

• Draws & Results

• Reports

• Draw from WISPA
   

• 2003 Event

Runa Reta

Marnie Baizley

9/0, 9/4, 9/6
 

Runa Reta

Runa Reta

Qualifying (Wed 10th):
2nd round:
Narelle Krizek (Aus) bt Hope Prockop (Usa) 9-4, 9-3, 9-3
Tara Mullins (Can) bt Carlin Wing (Usa) 9-2, 9-3, 9-1

1st round:
Hope Prockop (Usa)  bye
Narelle Krizek (Aus) bt Kelly Fowler (Aus) 3-9, 8-10, 10-9, 9-0, 9-1
Tara Mullins (Can) bt Susan Darymple (Sco) 9-7, 9-3, 9-5
Carlin Wing (Usa)  bye

Runa Reaches
Another Final
The seeds keep on falling in the Forbes Open in  Southport, Usa. While England's top seed Vicky Botwright remains on course for her maiden WISPA title, Canada's Runa Reta continued her recent fine form.

Botwright took advantage of a tired Canadian champion Marnie Baizley, who survived a marathon quarter-final against tournament organiser Melissa Martin, winning 9/5, 9/1, 9/5. Botwright reached her first final here in Southport last year, and has since reached a further three but is still seeking her first title.

Reta, who moved from College squash to the WISPA tour this season, went 2/1 down against third seed Pamela Nimmo, but recovered to win 9/4, 9/10, 0/9, 9/5, 9/7, reaching her second WISPA final in a week (and in her career).

12-Mar, Quarters:
Canadians Gatecrash Forbes Semis
The quarter-finals of the Forbes Open in Southport, USA, produced more upsets, with two Canadians gatecrashing the semi-finals.

Top seed Vicky Botwright had little trouble in beating fellow Englishwoman Kate Roe, and meets Canadian Marnie Baizley in the semi-finals. Baizley ruined tournament organiser and sixth seed Melissa Martin's day, foiling the Australian's comeback to win 9-7 in the fifth.

Scotland's third seed Pamela Nimmo beat last week's Ontario winner Eman El Amir in four games, but second seed Stephanie Brind crashed out to in-form Canadian Runa Reta, runner-up in Ontario.

11-Mar, First Round:
Canadians Force Forbes Upsets
Canadians featured in a trio of upsets in the first round of the Women's Forbes Squash Open in Southport, USA.

National champion Marnie Baizley was a game down against fourth seed Heidi Mather, but fought back to beat the Australian 7-9 9-0 9-1 9-3. The unseeded 28-year-old former world No30 from Winnipeg now faces another Australian in the quarter-finals, after sixth seed Melissa Martin crushed Canadian qualifier 9-1 9-1 9-3.

Canada's unseeded Runa Reta also made it through to the last eight after upsetting Karen Kronemeyer, the seventh seed from the Netherlands, 9-4 9-0 9-2. A surprise finalist in last week's Ontario Open in her hometown Ottawa, Reta now meets England's No2 seed Stephanie Brind, a 9-6 9-3 9-6 winner over American Meredeth Quick.

Melanie Jans, however, suffered her second successive early exit from a WISPA World Tour event this month. The two-times Canadian National champion, seeded eight, went down 10-8 9-6 9-1 to Egypt's unseeded Eman El Amir.

Preview:
Vicky's Quest Continues
England's world number 11 Vicky Botwright, the 2003 runner-up here,  continues the quest for her first WISPA title, and is top seed for the $10k Forbes Open in Southport, USA.

The seedings predict an all-English final, where Stephanie Brind would be hoping to repeat her 3-2 victory over Botwright in last week's Washington Summit, while Botwright would hope to emulate last year's semi-final victory over her compatriot.

Australia's Melissa Martin, the 6th seed, will be doubling up as tournament organiser.