Women's Central Squash Open, New Plymouth, New Zealand

1st round:

[1] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) bt Joelle King (NZL)  9-3, 9-1, 9-3 (22m)

[6] Chinatsu Matsui (JPN) bt Sun-Mi Song (KOR)  9-7, 9-1, 9-6 (37m)

[4] Christina Mak (HKG) bt [Q] Paula Darlington (NZL)  9-2, 9-1, 9-5 (31m)

[8] Sachiko Shinta (JPN) bt Kerry Wickett (NZL)  8-10, 9-6, 5-9, 9-4, 9-7 (52m)

[5] Peta Hughes (AUS) bt [Q] Lana Harrison (NZL)  9-3, 9-1, 9-4 (24m)

[3] Louise Crome (NZL) bt Jackie Laurenson (NZL)  9-1, 9-4, 9-0 (15m)

[7] Eun Ok Park (KOR) bt Amanda Cranston (NZL)  9-0, 10-8, 9-4 (27m)

[2] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt Kylie Lindsay (NZL)  9-2, 9-1, 9-0 (19m)

Kasey Closes Out Kitchen In New Zealand

Australia's Kasey Brown successfully defended her title at the Women's Central Squash Open in New Zealand when she upset top-seeded Kiwi Shelley Kitchen in the final of the WISPA World Tour event at Kawaroa Park in New Plymouth.

Brown, whose triumph in the 2006 Central Open marked her fifth Tour title of last year, beat two New Zealanders on her way to facing favourite Kitchen in the 2007 climax.

But the 21-year-old world No16 from New South Wales showed no signs of being overawed by Kitchen - ranked three places higher - as she romped to a 9-4, 9-3, 9-1 victory in 47 minutes.

Despite reaching three WISPA finals this year, the win marked Brown's first of 2007 - and the seventh of her short career.