22/06/2007
WOMEN'S LOS ANGELES OPEN
Grainger Battles To LA Open Title
Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los
Angeles Squash Open,
Los Angeles, USA
Final:
[1]
Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 4-9, 9-7, 4-9,
9-7, 9-4 (49m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Natalie
Grainger (USA) bt [4] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 9-1, 9-0, 9-6 (27m)
[3]
Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt [6] Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-4, 9-5, 9-3 (27m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Natalie
Grainger (USA) bt [8] Runa Reta (CAN) 9-1, 9-0, 9-3 (20m)
[4] Lauren
Briggs (ENG) bt [5] Latasha Khan (USA) 9-5, 9-3, 9-2 (42m)
[3] Raneem
El Weleily (EGY) bt Joshna Chinappa (IND) 9-0, 9-6, 4-9, 10-8 (27m)
[6] Manuela
Manetta (ITA) bt [2] Samantha Teran (MEX) 9-4, 6-9, 9-3, 9-7 (70m)
1st round:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [Q] Tara
Mullins (CAN) 9-1, 9-0, 9-2 (19m)
[8] Runa Reta (CAN) bt [Q] Neha Kumar (CAN)
9-2, 9-3, 9-0 (25m)
[4] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt Kirsty McPhee
(ENG) 5-9, 9-1, 9-6, 9-2 (37m)
[5] Latasha Khan (USA) bt Carolyn Russell
(CAN) 9-4, 9-1, 9-7 (39m)
Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [7] Aisling Blake
(IRL) 9-4, 6-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-7 (68m)
[3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt Jenna Gates
(ENG) 9-1, 9-1, 9-1 (19m)
[6] Manuela Manetta (ITA) bt [Q] Dipika
Pallikal (IND) 9-2, 9-3, 9-7 (28m)
[2] Samantha Teran (MEX) bt [Q] Karen
Kronemeyer (NED) 9-2, 9-2, 9-6 (42m)
Grainger Battles To LA Open
Title
Natalie Grainger
won the Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles Squash Open
title as predicted by the seedings - but the experienced 29-year-old from
Washington DC was taken the full distance in the final by third seed
Raneem El Weleily before beating the Egyptian teenager at the LA
Athletic Club in Los Angeles, USA.
Twice the US
National champion had to come from behind before finally overcoming El Weleily,
the 18-year-old world junior champion from Alexandria, 4-9, 9-7, 4-9, 9-7, 9-4
in 49 minutes.
"I wasn’t very fast today, I’ve been
struggling with a cold all week," champion Grainger said afterwards. "She got
into it very quickly and I wasn’t quite there at the start. She’s very good,
very skilful, reads the game well and has great touch.
"After I won the
second, I thought I knew what I needed to do - but she stepped it up again and
just steamrollered me in the third. I had to raise my pace to keep her at bay -
I knew that if I worked her hard she could make a batch of errors, so I had to
will myself to that higher pace and be ready to go after it when I could," added
Grainger, who became a US citizen in February and has now won three WISPA
World Tour titles since that date on her new 'home soil'.
El Weleily, who
was hoping that it would be third time lucky in her third WISPA final, was
pleased with her performance: "I felt really calm all the way through. I
wasn’t thinking of the score at any time, just trying to win each rally, but in
the end the errors I hit just killed me.
"I tried my best
- I didn’t have anything more to give out there. Thanks to everyone for a great
tournament."
Grainger
& El Weleily To Contest LA Open Final
It took
both players 27 minutes to win their semi-finals - but when favourite
Natalie Grainger and third seed Raneem El Weleily meet in the
final of the Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles Squash Open
at the LA Athletic Club in Los Angeles, they will represent
opposite ends of the spectrum of players on the WISPA World Tour.
Egyptian El
Weleily, the 18-year-old world junior champion from Alexandria, is now in
her third Tour final - but yet to see her name inscribed on a trophy -
while Grainger, the 29-year-old former world number one from Washington DC
in the US, is celebrating her 30th appearance in a Tour final,
and already has 13 titles to her name.
Grainger
was in formidable form as she despatched England's fourth seed Lauren
Briggs 9-1, 9-0, 9-6.
"I was very happy with that: High
concentration, put the ball where I wanted it to go, mixed up the pace -
if you meet those targets you can’t go far wrong," explained the US
champion. "Lauren’s improved over the last year and played really well
yesterday so I wanted to come out hard and fast and I did just that. I
lost to her the last time we played when I wasn’t fully fit, so it’s nice
to put that one right.
“I’ve never
played Raneem before, but she’s really talented. It feels like watching a
little mini-me out there with that backhand volley of hers. It’s going to
be fun watching her develop - but not just yet!"
Only seven
ranking positions separate El Weleily from Manuela Manetta, the
sixth-seeded Italian who upset Mexico's No2 seed Samantha Teran to
earn her surprise semi-final slot.
But despite
leads by Manetta in both the second and third games, it was the Egyptian
teenager who prevailed, winning 9-4, 9-5, 9-3.
“I played
much better today - I had to," said El Weleily later. "Never mind the
score - that was really tough. Manuela never gives up and she’s getting
better and better every day. I’ve watched her results improving.”
Manetta Upsets Teran In LA
Open
A 70-minute
quarter-final battle in the Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles
Squash Open resulted in Italy's Manuela Manetta scoring a
significant upset in the WISPA World Tour event at the LA
Athletic Club in Los Angeles when she beat second-seeded
Mexican Samantha Teran.
It was the
pair's second meeting on US soil since January - but this time the
24-year-old from Parma avenged her defeat in the Dayton Open in
Ohio by overcoming world No22 Teran 9-4, 6-9, 9-3, 9-7.
“I knew
that if I wanted to win I would have to play my best, and I did," said
Manetta . "I felt in control most of the time. I was holding the ‘T’
and making her do the work. Sometimes I lose concentration and make
mistakes - but that didn’t happen today.
“I lost 3/1
to her in Dayton in January, so it was good to get revenge for that.”
Manetta
will now face Raneem El Weleily after the third seed from Egypt
ended the giant-killing run of Joshna Chinappa, beating the
unseeded Indian 9-0, 9-6, 4-9, 10-8.
In the
other semi-final, top seed Natalie Grainger will face England's No4
seed Lauren Briggs. US champion Grainger defeated Canada's Runa
Reta 9-1, 9-0, 9-3 while Briggs beat former US champion Latasha
Khan 9-5, 9-3, 9-2.
Semi-final
line-up:
[1] Natalie
Grainger (USA) v [4] Lauren Briggs (ENG)
[6] Manuela
Manetta (ITA) v [3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY)
Chinappa Chops Blake In LA
Upset
Joshna Chinappa
pulled off one of her best results of the year on the opening day of
action in the Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles Squash Open
when she upset Ireland's No7 seed Aisling Blake to reach the
quarter-finals of the WISPA World Tour event at the LA Athletic
Club in Los Angeles, USA.
The unseeded 20-year-old from Chennai in
India fought back from two-games-to-one down to defeat Blake, ranked 38 in
the world, 9-4, 6-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-7 in 68 minutes.
Chinappa now faces third seed Raneem El
Weleily for a place in the semi-finals after the teenager from Egypt
crushed England's Jenna Gates 9-1, 9-1, 9-1 in just 19 minutes.
Natalie Grainger,
the reigning US champion, and Latasha Khan, a former seven-times
winner of the title, carried domestic hopes through to the last eight.
Top seed Grainger was too strong for Canadian qualifier Tara Mullins,
beating the 30-year-old from Toronto 9-1, 9-0, 9-2.
"It’s only the second time I’ve played a
real top player. I handled the pace ok, but it was the ball accuracy that
was the difference," explained Mullins. "It’s so hard to get her out of
position. I did it a few times but not enough to win a game. I gave her
too many loose balls and she just put them away."
Khan also despatched a Canadian - beating
Carolyn Russell, from Vancouver, 9-4, 9-1, 9-7.
“There were lots of long rallies, but I
didn’t have to move too much, she was putting a lot of shots into the
middle," said Khan, from Seattle. "I just had to stay focused. It’s
always a bit physical when you play Carolyn, you just have to not let it
get to you."
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) v [8] Runa Reta
(CAN)
[4] Lauren Briggs (ENG) v [5] Latasha Khan
(USA)
[3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) v Joshna
Chinappa (IND)
[2] Samantha Teran (MEX) v [6] Manuela
Manetta (ITA)
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