Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open
March 8-12 2005
Colin McQuillan Reports From
Kuwait City
Day Four....12.3.05....The Finals
Palmer
Completes Total England Defeat
David
Takes A First Major Title
Australia’s David Palmer completed his
destruction of the entire England team in Kuwait tonight, beating the fourth
seeded defending champion, Peter Nicol, 11-4 9-11 11-3 11-6 in the 46 minute
men’s final of the Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open on the centre court of
the Salmiya Club.
It was a first defeat for Nicol on
Kuwait soil since he first won here eight years ago, and it deprived him of
a 50th title win on the PSA World Tour. In the two previous
rounds Palmer, the Antwerp based British Open Champion playing here with a
force and precision as good as he has ever displayed, defeated first James
Willstrop and then Lee Beachill.
Earlier
tonight Malaysia’s fourth seeded Nicol
David took her first major title on the WISPA World Tour beating
Natalie Grainger, the sixth seed from the USA, 4-9
9-6 9-7 10-8 in the 45 minute women’s final.
The event was thrown into turmoil for the
third night in succession as unexpected rainfall drove the matches off the
glass showcourt mounted at the Green Island leisure park and back onto the
plaster courts of the club.
Pressure To Stay
Another Day
This time there was added tension as the
organisers tried to persuade the players to postpone the finals until
Sunday, when the forecast was for more clement weather. When the men
explained that they had to be in London for Monday to start the Canary
Wharf Classic, the pressure on the women finalists became intense for them
to alter their plans and provide some sort of show to precede long planned
closing celebrations at Green Island.
“If it had not been for our existing
commitment to Canary Wharf, we could have stayed on to play tomorrow,”
Palmer said after the final. “This is an important event on the PSA World
Tour. It was not much fun changing courts and venues through the last few
days, but we have to play where we can so long as it is part of the general
scheduling.
“The plaster court probably favoured me a
bit tonight. Peter’s speed and delivery is lethal on the glass court. He was
a bit tired from his efforts over the past couple of days and I was able to
keep the pace high enough to control things for most of the time.”
Nicol, who staged one of his heroic
fighgt back wins against another Australian, Anthony Ricketts, in the
quarter-finals and removed the top seeded World open Champion, Thierry
Lincou of France, from the semi-finals, played with genuine brilliance to
capture the second game, but was unable to stay with Palmer beyond that.
“Too big,” he shouted as Palmer easily
reached one of his lobs to volley drive fiercely into the deep right corner
as he reached 8-3 in a three handed capture of then third game.In fact the
tall long-limbed Australian was too big for Nicol tonight in almost every
way.
Not Even For The
Ambassador
Natalie Grainger, as WISPA President,
refused to bend to the pressure for the women to step in for the Sunday
programme. Nicol David was even required to meet with the Malaysian
Ambassador to explain to him why such a re-arrangement was impossible.There
were some suggestions after this that a women’s tournament might not happen
next year, although many of the women were already suggesting they might not
want to return if they were again to be treated as merely supplementary to
the men.
“The debates at Green Island made the
change of venue even more difficult than it was on semi-finals day,” David
admitted. “Then when we got to the club there was a lot of fuss about
seating and so on. I just tried to keep my mind centred on the match ahead
and separate myself from everything else. I had not played on the glass
court apart from the one game of the semi-finals, so really I was quite
pleased to come back to the club where I had played well all week.
“When I got to the court, Natalie started off at a furious pace and I had
all my attention on just trying to hold on to her and slow the rhythms down
to where I could play my own game.”
David's First
Major Tour Title
This was David’s 15th title on
the WISPA World Tour, but far the most important, Grainger, who has been in
and out of the game over the past year with illness and injury, perhaps left
her best efforts in the tough semi-final she took in the fifth game to
prevent the World Open Champion, Vanessa Atkinson, from taking over as World
No1 with a Kuwait win after David had taken out the defending champion,
Natalie Grinham.
Grainger is a big-hitting and talented
former South African No1 now resident in Washington, USA. She began tonight
in formidable style, cruising to 7-2 in the first game and 6-3 in the second
with high paced heavy driving rallies that opened the front court for her
accurate short shot racketwork.
But the diminutive and astonishingly
speedy Malaysian showed coming back twice from 0-6 down against Grinham that
she can approach every rally as merely the beginning of the rest of the
game. She made the end of the first game difficult before Grainger clinched
it with a brace of inch perfect backhand dropshots.
In the second she advanced from merely
difficult to downright impossible by winning from 3-6 in two hands of all
court coverage and clinical shot selection. In the third both players went
into a higher paced unforgiving mode, but it was Nicol David who lasted the
10 minute spell best to take a match lead in one hand from 6-7 with a
floating forehand boast, a clinging forehand volley down the righthand wall
and two relentless retrieval rallies that Grainger could only conclude with
desperate tinned shots on either hand.
It was Grinham revisited in the fourth
game: Grainger raced to 6-0 on a mixture of good shots, opponent’s errors
and a couple of marginal calls in her favour. That all ended on a
magnificent clinging forehand David return of serve that disappeared into
the righthand deep corner. A brace of clever backhand drops bracketed two
unforced tinned errors from Grainger and, suddenly, the initiative had
obviously changed sides.
The tall strong sixth seed became visibly
rattled as David sped around the court delivering a backhand dropshot across
the face of the frontwall, a backhand drop shot crosscourt into the right
nick and a crisp backhand drive into created space; all at the end of long
hard rallies and all at full extension in the front court.
One deep forehand drive seemed capable of
bringing Grainger back into control of things at 6-5, but an immediate
unforced backhand error relinquished the opportunity and, despite battling
into a tiebreak from matchball down thanks to an ungenerous no-let call on a
blocked backhand drop shot, Grainger never seemed likely to win from there.
Two tired and rather unnerved errors, one
on either hand, finally brought the fourth seed to the best results of her
senior career.
Sheikha Al Saad
Kuwait Open
Kuwait City
Men's Final
Result:
[3] David Palmer
(AUS) bt [4]Peter Nicol (Eng) 11-4 9-11 11-3 11-6 (46m)
Women's Final
Result:
[4] Nicol David
(MAS) bt [6] Natalie Grainger (USA) 4-9 9-6 9-7 10-8 (45m)
©SquashNow !
Day Three....11.3.05....The Semi-finals
Nicol Tops Night
Of Seedings Destruction
England’s
Peter Nicol, the fourth seeded defending champion, topped
an extraordinary destruction of the seedings in the semi-finals of the
Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open in Kuwait City today, beating
the World Open Champion, Thierry Lincou of France, 11-3
11-4 7-11 11-10 (2-0) in the 64 minute final match of an evening disjointed
by unexpected rainfall.
“I
played very good squash for two games,” Nicol said. “Then I started to tire
a bit and Thierry began to impose his own play on the match. I am not back
to full fitness after a year disturbed by injuries and illness. I really
need a good summer of background training. But I am very heartened by the
way my game has come back together.
“I think
Thierry was not at his best and that gave me the chance to work my shots off
a convenient length and width. It is likely to be quite different against
David Palmer in the final if he again plays as well as he did against James
Willstrop in the quarters and then Lee Beachill in the semis here. His power
and speed are awesome when he is playing this well. I will have my hands
full tomorrow.”
Earlier play had started on the outdoor glass
showcourt at the Green Island Leisure Park, but heavy rain that fell after
one game of the first women’s semi-final drove the action back onto the
indoor plaster courts of the Salmiya Club for the second
night in a row.
Nicol David Topples World No1
Malaysia’s
fourth seeded Nicol David lost the single outdoor game 9-0
to Rachael Grinham, the top seeded defending champion from
Australia, but back in more familiar club surroundings she fought back from
0-6 down in the second game and 0-6 down in the fourth reach her 15th
WISPA World Tour final with a 52 minute 0-9 9-7 9-4 9-7 victory that
actually took more than two hours to complete and looked for a time to
have removed Grinham from her World No1 ranking.
David had
not been allowed practice time on the glass court while it was drying out
from a downpour on quarter-finals night. The only match completed at Green
Island on that quarter-final evening was Grinham’s easy defeat of Linda
Elriani, the British Champion. The discrepancy in feeling for the court
conditions showed in the first game today as Grinham stormed to a 9-0 score
with her usual fast movement out of clever slow-paced rallying.
But a 10
minute halt for spitting rain and then a complete cessation as thunder
rolled and the heavens opened meant a transfer to the dry indoor courts of
Salmiya after a breakneck drive and a one hour break.
“I was
comfortable as soon as I got back on the courts I had been playing all
week,” David admitted. “The rain was my friend today. Rachael just didn’t
settle after the second start.”
On the club
court Grinham again tried to keep the Malaysian player under control with
slow high lobs and soft drop shots. But David on a plaster court is a busy
little figure. At times her bustling approach to the game is like a
miniature version of the mighty Jahangir Khan. She stepped up to sharply
return the soft drops as either fierce little drives or real working drops.
She faded back to collect the lobs on the volley and drove them either to
the deep corners or the front nicks. “These are cold courts. If you hit the
corners and the nicks the ball does not come out again,” she explained
later.
Missed
Chance ?
Holland’s
second seeded Vanessa Atkinson, the in-form World Open
Champion who might have wanted to exploit Grinham’s failure with a Kuwait
win that would ensure her own first elevation to World No1, promptly lost
the opportunity in a 57 minute 10-8 9-7 1-9 8-10 9-5 loss to the sixth
seeded Natalie Grainger of the USA.
Grainger has
been in and out of the game over the past year or so, but she looked tonight
as if she has found a level of fitness and enthusiasm that could carry her
into contention n for the top slot.
Atkinson did
not play badly tonight, although she did feed the top left corner rather
more than was sensible against someone moving as well and striking with such
variable intensity. She fought back from two games down, resisted a
matchball at 7-8 in the fourth game and led the fifth 3-1 before Grainger’s
firm driving and astute front court retrieval wore her down towards the end
of their hour on court.
“I hope I
haven’t deprived Vanessa of her first World No1 ranking,” Grainger said with
a slightly insincere grin at the end of the match.
Unblemished
Skill
David
Palmer, the third seeded Australian, then produced a performance of
almost unblemished skill to defeat England’s second seeded Lee
Beachill 11-7 11-9 9-11 11-3 in 55 minutes.
James
Willstrop commented afterwatrds that he had never seen Palmer play so well.
“He was totally dominant on anything from knee to shoulder height on either
hand tonight and moving with fantastic speed and assurance,” Willstrop said.
“Lee never really got into his game and I think it was because he was just
unable to get in front of Palmer until spells in the third game.”
Sheikha Al Saad
Kuwait Open
Kuwait City
Men's
Semi-final Results:
[4]Peter Nicol (Eng) bt [1] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11-3
11-4 7-11 11-10 (2-0) (64m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt
[2] Lee
Beachill (ENG) 11-7 11-9 9-11 11-3 (55m)
Women's
Semi-final Results:
[4] Nicol David (MAS) bt [1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 0-9 9-7 9-4 9-7
(52m)
[6] Natalie
Grainger (USA) bt [2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 10-8 9-7 1-9 8-10 9-5 (57m)
©SquashNow !
Day
Two....10.3.05....The Quarter-finals
Nicol In Heroic Mode
Peter Nicol, the fourth
seeded defending champion, today produced an 85 minute 11-6 11-9 8-11 10-11
(0-2) 11-10 (2-0) fighting win at the Salmiya Club in Kuwait City that,
while it took him into the semi-finals of the
Sheikha Al Saad Open as required, is likely to
live longer in the memories of the its Kuwaiti witnesses as one of the great
heroic performances of their experience.
Nicol
defeated seventh seeded Anthony Ricketts, the young Australian fresh
in from dominating the Tournament of Champions in New York and in fearsome
mood as he started the match patiently contesting a rally of at least 200
strokes for the second point, then roared back from a two game deficit to
hold matchball at 10-4 against a 31-year-old who should have taken the hint
and allowed the last rally to escape him in graceful acknowledgement of a
well played defeat.
But graceful
defeat, while sometimes unavoidable, does not seem to be high on Nicol’s
list of priorities. After a couple of well called penalty strokes gave
Ricketts an 8-2 lead, the former world champion chanced his arm with a
cheeky little drop into the top right corner that the Australian could only
scuff into the tin. When Ricketts nicked a backhand return of service for
9-3, Nicol ran fluently through two let rallies to eventually win another
point with a forehand dropshot picked up late in the top left corner.
Ricketts responded with a heavy wrong-footing forehand crosscourt passing
shot to take what looked like a procedural matchpoint, but turned out to be
just the start of another Nicol resurgence that led on to seven more
matchball rallies and a famous fighting victory.
“I was in
real trouble at 2-8,” Nicol admitted. “Anthony was playing with real force
and dominating the front court firing short shots in behind his heavy
driving that I was having trouble getting round him for. I was flapping
about a bit really. Then he just took his foot off the gas a bit. Perhaps he
thought it was as good as won and he just had to play in a relaxed way until
the last point fell his way.
“But it let
me into the rallies again and I found a few points reaching forward to drive
one ball through him down the middle of the court, push another across the
face of the frontwall while he was looking for a drop to the other side and
then a good long backhand drop that slipped nicely into the nick.”
At 7-10
experience told Nicol that this title defence might not be over after all.
“Anthony maybe started to feel the pressure a bit then. He put a backhand
service return into the tin and he started to go short much earlier than he
had in the rest of the match.”
With more
room to work in and less ground to cover as Ricketts abandoned his firm
driving preparation for drop shots, Nicol produced a wrong-footing backhand
passing shot at full extension and followed this with a recovery from a full
length sprawl in the deep right corner so effective that his opponent hit a
backhand crosscourt volley into the tin as he tried unsuccessfully to decide
which shot was best suited to the situation.
A huge roar
of anticipation greeted the tiebreak at 10-10 while Nicol’s rhythm and
balance returned with a vengeance, Ricketts moved into sheer panic mode. He
hit another backhand volley into the tin as he attempted a volley with Nicol
hovering on his shoulder and then picked up a tight little ball in the top
left corner only well enough to rattle the tin one last time.
Joe Kneipp, who had been talking to Ricketts
in the corner between games, declared the contest one of the finest he had
seen for many months. “Good clean working squash with fine tight driving and
skilful shotmaking. An absolute joy to watch,” said the man who had come
close to overturning Thierry Lincou, the world champion, the previous
evening. “Ricketts will be dreaming about that one for a while to come.”
While this
was going on, Vanessa Atkinson, Nicol David and Natalie Grainger
progressed without loss in almost complete isolation on another court to put
three of the seeded favourites through to the women’s semi-finals.
Rain Stops Play
Later in the evening the
other three men’s quarter-finals and the last of the women’s quarter-finals
were scheduled for the showcourt at Green Island, but only the women managed
a finish before the rain came down to cancel outdoor proceedings for the
night and initiate a desperate mass drive through the traffic-jammed city to
get the action back on court at the Salmiya Club.
It took the tops
seeded Rachael Grinham just 54 minutes to deal with Linda Elriani,
the British Champion who last month reached the Tournament of Champions
final in New York at the expense of the fast little Cairo based Australian.
This time Elriani’s attempts to slowball Grinham to death failed in the
moist conditions of the outdor glass court mounted on Green Island with sea
breezes chilling the audience but offering no solace inside the court.
Elriani returned of
0-5 and 3-7 down in the first game but, as Grinham found her footing and
some measure of her sharpshooting style, the second went for no real answer
in just seven minutes, the third in a single hand from 5-5 after 12 minutes
and the fourth from 1-6 down in another 12 minutes.
Lee
Beachill and Amr Shabana were next up, but they were only 24
minutes into their quarter-final, at 6-6 in the second game after Beachill
took the first in 13 minutes of action on the glass court, when the rain
began to fall gently and matters were adjourned.
A
cramped 103 minute journey put things back on the same court that had seen
Nicol’s escape act earlier in the day. But Beachill was not about to allow
an Egyptian version.
In another 11 minutes
the second seeded triple British Champion had the second game tidied away
and eight more minutes saw him safely into the semi-finals with a 11-8 11-9
11-7 win that was timed officially at 44 minutes but actually recorded two
hours and 36 minutes on the clock.
Jahangir Khan
was in the audience. Perhaps he was recalling that match against Gamal
Awad in Chichester. They were locked in battle for 10 minutes longer
than that, and no 103 minute rests in the middle.
“It was
a nightmare having to change courts that way. I just tried to shut down on
the bus between venues and then to get myself up really high again for the
restart,” Beachill said after the win.
“I
wanted to play him hard and fast from the start. If you let Amr set himself
for the shot it can go anywhere and you are just chasing his balls. So being
able to rekindle that pace of play at the second attempt was crucial.”
Shabana
was less than pleased. He threw his racket across the court at the end of
the second game and broke it across his knee at the end.
So It Will Be Palmer Versus Beachill Again !
Australia’s David Palmer returned to
the club in determined mood to defeat James Willstrop of England 11-6
11-9 3-9 11-5 in 58 minutes saying the change of courts was the same for
both players and he was content to go along with the force of circumstances.
“I always enjoy playing James and this
was a good match in which I felt in control until he started going for it a
bit in the third game. The win takes me to a semi-final against Lee Beachill,
which is a different thing altogether.”
Palmer was moved to call Beachill a
cheat last time they met on an Arab court, in the semi-finals of the World
Open Championship in Qatar, after the Englishman refused to give up a
matchball point that Palmer was convinced came from a tinned forehand
dropshot.
This followed a British open final clash
in which Beachill was convinced Palmer willingly profited from poor
refereeing calls……Should be quite a semi-final !
Sheikha Al Saad
Kuwait Open
Kuwait City
Men's Quarter-final
Results:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [8] Karim Darwish
(EGY) 7-11 11-6 11-6 11-6 (57m)
[4] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-6 11-9 8-11 10-11 (0-2) 11-10 (2-0) (85m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-6 11-9 3-9 11-5 (58m)
[2] Lee
Beachill (ENG) bt [5] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-8 11-9 11-7 (44m)
Women's Quarter-final
Results:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) 7-9 9-0 9-5 9-5 (54m)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) bt [Q]
Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) 9-3 9-1 9-0 (24m)
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-6 9-6 9-6 (31m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt
Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 9-0 9-5 9-7 (37m)
©SquashNow !
Day
One....9.3.05....The First Round
England's Young Women In The Frame Again
England’s rising
generation of women began once again to impact upon senior matters today as
the first round of the Sheikha El Saad Open began at the Salmiya Club
in Kuwait City.
Laura Jane
Lengthorn, the World No21 from Preston in Lancashire took her first tour
victory over Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt, the seventh seed, while
Alison Waters, the Southgate based World No20, took British Champion
Linda Elriani to four games over an hour of play in which she pressed
the experienced fifth seed a good deal harder than when they met in the
national final in Manchester a month or so back.
Then Jenny Duncalf
took her great Yorkshire feud with Jenny Tranfield into new territory
with a stubborn 86 minute 8-10 9-7 2-9 9-4 10-9 win that she declared a
complete relief after poor performances in the British National
Championships last month.
Tranfield lodged
official complaints with England Squash when Duncalf was selected ahead of
her for the squad sent to the World. Team Championship in Amsterdam late
last year. Her determination to build on that complaint was evident as she
fought back in a single hand from matchball down at 4-8 in the fifth game
today to reach her own matchball at 9-8.
“I couldn’t believe I
let that happen,” Duncalf said later. “I was telling myself at 8-4 to
concentrate on getting the job done without any mistakes and suddenly I was
staring at defeat. I would have had nightmares for the rest of my life if I
hadn’t managed to get off court with that win.
I wanted to put in a
good performance here because I thought I let myself down a bit at the
nationals. I played well to get to matchball but I had to take things very
seriously to finish things off. I think I had five matchballs in all, and
she had three, before we were done.”
Elriani was taking
things pretty seriously too. “The courts are very hot here and strangely
damp, which makes the ball skid a bit on the walls. If you do not watch
everything very carefully things can slip away, especially against a player
like Alison who likes to keep the ball running. It is harder to slow things
down against her in these conditions.
“ I also have another
problem with Alison. Every time I step on court with her I recall that she
was about three years old when I first started playing major tournaments,’
added the 33-year-old with a grin. “I am now trying to convince myself that
this is somehow an admirable thing on my part.”
Lengthorn needed no
such convincing today. “I am just delighted,” she acknowledged after her 52
minute 6-9 9-4 2-9 9-3 9-2 win. “I have never beaten Omneya before and I
think she cracked here. I won the fourth game quite well and the fifth went
my way a bit at the start. I knew I could take it if I stayed strong and
kept playing my own game.”
The Egyptian World
No7 collected a conduct warning for throwing her racket into the ceiling
after Lengthorn retrieved the service with an extraordinary top spin drop
and then edged ahead at 2-1 with another unreadable drop shot into the nick.
As the Egyptian’s temper frayed increasingly, the tall young Englishwoman
played with increasing authority to crack the ball into deep spaces and
exploit gaps in the front court.
Both temperament and
court conditions played their part in the 64 minute victory of the eighth
seeded Tournament of Champions winner, Anthony Ricketts, 10-11 (5-7)
11-3 11-7 8-11 11-4 over the gangling Mohammed Abbas of Egypt. Play was
stopped for 20 minutes after the first game had extended to 17-15 over 21
minutes with the court walls beginning to run with condensation. A swift
change of air-conditioning straightened up the court, and changed the game
from a deep hitting running challenge into a drop war that brought a few
heated exchanges that eventually attracted a conduct warning, and a
collision at 1-1 in the third that provided Abbas with a three minute rest.
No such problems for
the men’s defending champion, Peter Nicol of England, who tidied
Pakistan’s Mansoor Zaman away 11-10 (3-1) 11-6 11-1 in 29 minutes,
declaring afterwards that the crisp finish out of a competitive start was
just what he needed for boosting his confidence. The women’s defending
champion, Rachael Grinham of Australia, defeated England’s Vicky
Botwright 6-9 9-7 10-8 9-4 in 80 minutes after dropping the first game and
standing gameball down in he third.
England’s second
seed, Lee Beachill, also moved through in straight games against
Davide Bianchetti, a qualifier from Italy, and was swiftly followed by his
Pontefract training partner, James Willstrop, who needed only 29
minutes to despatch Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia 11-1 11-10 (3-1) 11-4.
After the Lord Mayor’s Show Comes
The World Champion
Later in the evening we
adjourned to Green Island for fireworks and fun around the glass showcourt
before David Palmer made polite
mincemeat of the Kuwait wild card, Abdullah Amezayen,
11-9 11-6 11-5 in 23 minutes and Thierry Lincou
of France struggled past Australia’s Joe Kneipp
10-11 (7-9) 11-8 11-9 11-10 (2-0) in 82 minutes.
Palmer made a fair fist
of entertaining a crowd who had just finished singing, dancing and stopping
their ears against the huge pyrotechnic explosions. He allowed young
Amezayen, enough space and times to show his courtcraft to the home crowd
before raising the pace just enough to end matters.
Lincou, however, might
have thought a World Open Champion and World No1 was worth a bit more
respect than to find the wily Kneipp waiting for him on a cold outdoor
court with a floor slippery from the evening condensation, and electronic
tin that seemed to switch on and off throughout the match, a crowd whose
interest had been well and truly diluted, and a referee, Nasser Zahran of
Egypt, ready to take a fairly individualistic view of lets and strokes.
The Frenchman looked to
be managing the first game until a fierce skid on the backhand side put the
ball over the frontwall instead of safely in the nick on game ball. It took
another 16 rallies for the game to fall Kneipp’s way after 36 minutes of
desperate rallying.
Lincou’s fiercely
accurate rallying and dropping brought the match back within his grasp soon
after, although there was another scare when Kneipp fought back to a second
tiebreak in the fourth game.
More fireworks were
ordered at the end. The World Champion just stayed on court to warm down.
Perhaps things will warm up for him as the tournament progresses.
Sheikha El Saad
Open
Kuwait City
Men's First
Round Results:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 10-11 (7-9), 11-8, 11-9,
11-10 (2-0) (82m)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 (42m)
[4] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt [Q] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-1
(29m)
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 10-11 (5-7), 11-3,
11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (64m)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-1, 11-10 (3-1), 11-4
(29m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (23m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8
(42m)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [Q] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-7, 11-9, 11-1 (40m)
Women's First
Round Results:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Vicky Botwright (ENG) 6-9, 9-7, 10-8, 9-4 (80m)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) bt [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) 9-6, 5-9, 10-8, 9-3 (60m)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 10-8, 9-3, 9-5 (35m)
[Q] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) bt [7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 6-9, 9-4, 2-9,
9-3, 9-2 (52m)
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [Q] Tania Bailey (ENG) 9-0, 2-9, 9-3, 9-7
(36m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt Fiona Geaves (ENG) 9-1, 9-10, 9-5, 9-1 (44m)
Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [8] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) 8-10, 9-7, 2-9, 9-4, 10-9
(86m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [Q] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) 9-7, 9-2, 9-3 (27m)
©SquashNow !
England's
Women Out-Qualify The Men
England failed to get a single player through the men's qualifying finals of
the Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open, although all three English
contenders in the women's event survived to make the first round proper in
Kuwait City.
Joey Barrington, runner-up in last week's COAS International in
Pakistan, went down 11-8 11-6 11-6 to Mohammed Abbas. The Egyptian is
rewarded with a first round clash against seventh seed Anthony Ricketts, the
Australian winner of last month's Tournament of Champions in New York.
After taking the first game against Italian Davide Bianchetti, Bradley
Ball battled for 67 minutes but was beaten 10-11 11-4 11-9 11-7 by the world
No34 from Brescia. Bianchetti will now face second seed Lee Beachill.
Sickness prevented Peter Barker lasting the complete match against
Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman. The Peshawar left-hander raced to an 11-3 5-1
lead before Barker threw in the towel to let Zaman into the main draw -
where he will meet fellow left-hander Peter Nicol, the defending champion
from England.
The final men's qualifying place went to Egypt's Wael El Hindi, whose
5-11 11-7 11-10 11-4 victory over Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema rewarded him
with a match against fellow Egyptian Amr Shabana, the fifth seed.
It was an all-British line-up after the women's final qualifiers - with
Scotland's Pamela Nimmo joined by English players Laura-Jane Lengthorn,
Tania Bailey and Alison Waters.
Waters avenged two defeats by Madeline Perry last year to beat the Irish
champion 9-3 9-2 3-9 9-3 in 41 minutes. Her opponent in the first round is
compatriot Linda Elriani, the fifth seed from Eastbourne who beat Waters in
last month's British National Championship final to win the title for the
first time.
Sheikha Al Saad
Kuwait Open
Kuwait City
Men's Qualifying Finals Results:
Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6
(38m)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt Bradley Ball (ENG) 10-11 (1-3), 11-4, 11-9, 11-7
(67m)
Mansoor Zaman (PAK) bt Peter Barker (ENG) 11-3, 5-1 ret.
Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 5-11, 11-7, 11-10 (3-1),
11-4 (53m)
Women's
Qualifying Finals Results:
Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) bt Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 4-9, 9-6, 9-5,
4-9, 9-5 (77m)
Pamela Nimmo (SCO) bt Engy Kheirallah (EGY) 9-0, 5-9, 9-5, 9-6 (48m)
Tania Bailey (ENG) bt Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 9-2, 9-3, 9-1 (26m)
Alison Waters (ENG) bt Madeline Perry (IRL) 9-3, 9-2, 3-9, 9-3 (41m)
Updated
Men's First Round Draw:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Joseph Kneipp (AUS)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Adrian Grant (ENG)
[4] Peter Nicol (ENG) v [Q] Mansoor Zaman (PAK)
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v [Q] Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) v Abdullah Almezayen (KUW)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) v [Q] Davide Bianchetti (ITA)
Updated Women's First Round Draw:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Vicky Botwright (ENG)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) v [Q] Alison Waters (ENG)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) v Shelley Kitchen (NZL)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [Q] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG)
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) v [Q] Tania Bailey (ENG)
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) v Fiona Geaves (ENG)
[8] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) v Jenny Duncalf (ENG)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) v [Q] Pamela Nimmo (SCO)
Crunch
Time In Kuwait For Rachael
After
failing to fulfil her top seeding in her the four WISPA World Tour events,
Australia's Rachael Grinham will be going all out to successfully defend her
title in the Women's Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open Squash Championship..
Grinham is top seed in the WISPA Grand Prix event - the second of the
year - and is expected to meet second seed Vanessa Atkinson in Saturday's
final.
The 28-year-old Australian claimed five WISPA titles last year and
became world No1 in August. However, the Queenslander is in danger of
losing the top spot to world No2 Atkinson, who rounded off last year by
winning the World Open title, then clinched the Tournament of Champions
trophy in New York last month.
The pair met seven times in 2004, with Grinham ahead 4/3 - but it was
the Dutch champion who prevailed in the two most recent encounters, in
December's Qatar Classic final and World Open semi-finals.
Grinham takes on England's Vicky Botwright, a Tournament of Champions
semi-finalist, in the first round - and is then likely to face another
English opponent Linda Elriani for a place in the semi-finals. Elriani
clinched her first victory over the Australian in three years in the other
New York semi.
Atkinson, also 28, from The Hague, meets a qualifier in the first round
in Kuwait before a predicted semi-final against Rachael's sister Natalie
Grinham, a regular practice partner in the Netherlands.
Matthew Backs Out
England's World
No8 Nick Matthew has been forced to withdraw from this
week's Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open Squash Championship,
from 9-12 March in Kuwait City.
In the Tournament of Champions in New York, a back injury caused the
24-year-old from Sheffield to concede his quarter-final match against
Thierry Lincou midway through the third game. "The same injury has
reoccurred a few times now, so it's a case of having a month or so of
strengthening and rehab work before I'll be 100%," Matthew told the PSA.
In a reseeding of the event, and a revised draw, Egypt's Karim Darwish
is elevated to eighth seed and will now face England's Adrian Grant in the
first round. Malaysian Ong Beng Hee comes into the draw and will take on
England's sixth seed James Willstrop.
The Kuwait event, in its second year as a PSA Tour 5-star championship,
has attracted the world's leading players, led by world No1 and world
champion Thierry Lincou. The Frenchman is expected to face England's No2
seed Lee Beachill, the world No2, in Saturday's final.
Defending champion Peter Nicol is aiming for his fourth title in Kuwait
City, after also winning the event in 1997 and 1998. The fourth-seeded
Englishman is expected to meet Australia's in-form Anthony Ricketts in the
quarter-finals, in a repeat of their clash at the same stage of last month's
Tournament of Champions. Ricketts prevailed in the encounter - and went on
to lift his first Super Series title after beating Thierry Lincou in the
final at Grand Central Terminal.
©SquashNow !
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