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Women's Betteridge & Breitling San Diego
Squash Classic, San Diego, CA, USA
Final:
[1] Natalie
Grainger (USA) bt [2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 9-2, 9-3, 9-3 (31m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [3] Lauren
Briggs (ENG) 9-0, 9-2, 9-2
[2]
Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt [4] Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-6, 10-8, 9-5
Quarter-finals:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [7] Neha
Kumar (CAN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
[3] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [Q] Karen
Kronemeyer (NED) 9-5, 0-9, 9-10, 9-4, 9-3
[4] Manuela Manetta (ITA) bt [5] Joshna
Chinappa (IND) 9-3, 6-9, 3-9, 9-3, 9-4
[2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt [6] Deon
Saffery (ENG) 10-8, 9-4, 9-4
1st round:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt Milou van der
Heijden (NED) 9-0, 9-1, 9-1
[7] Neha Kumar (CAN) bt Sarycarmen Diaz (MEX)
9-6, 6-9, 9-2, 9-7
[3] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt Stephanie
Edmison (CAN) 9-2, 9-2, 9-0
[Q] Karen Kronemeyer (NED) bt [8] Sarah
Parsons (CAN) 9-3, 9-0, 9-0
[5] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Imelda Salazar
Martinez (MEX) 9-6, 9-1, 9-3
[4] Manuela Manetta (ITA) bt [Q] Samantha
Cornett (CAN) 9-6, 9-1, 9-2
[6] Deon Saffery (ENG) bt Lily Lorentzen
(USA) 9-0, 9-2, 9-6
[2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt Ileana
Novelo (MEX) 9-0, 9-2, 9-0
San Diego
Title Brings Up Grainger Hat-Trick
US champion
Natalie Grainger notched up a hat-trick of successive WISPA
World Tour titles in her new home country when she beat Egypt's
Raneem El Weleily in the final of the Women's Betteridge &
Breitling San Diego Squash Classic in San Diego, California.
After
taking the Texas Open title in May, then struggling to a five-game
win over the teenager only a week ago in the final of the Epstein
Becker & Green Los Angeles Open, top seed Grainger was in sensational
form as she romped to a 9-2, 9-3, 9-3 victory over the second seed El
Weleily in 31 minutes.
"The
capacity crowd at San Diego Squash enjoyed some of the best Squash of the
weekend in the final, where Grainger asserted herself from the start,"
said tournament organiser Chris Walker, the former England
international. "After a close five-game match last weekend in the final
of the LA Open, Grainger knew she had to be on top form to keep the world
junior champion at bay."
The win
marked the latest stage in a remarkable comeback year for the 29-year-old
former world number one from Washington DC who became a US citizen in
February, then began a sequence of victories which included the US
National title and four further Tour crowns.
The San
Diego triumph brings Grainger's haul to 15 WISPA titles in a career which
began with success in the Coupe de Stade Francais in France in
March 1997
Grainger
& El Weleily To Meet Again In US WISPA Final
Natalie Grainger
is on course to win her third successive WISPA World Tour on home
soil in the USA - and will face Egypt's
Raneem El Weleily
for the second time in a week in the climax of the
Women's Betteridge &
Breitling San Diego Squash Classic
in San Diego, California.
Top seed Grainger, the in-form US champion
from Washington DC, conceded just two points in two matches as she romped
through to face England's third seed Lauren Briggs in the
semi-finals of the new Tour event in San Diego.
Briggs, who had been stretched to five
games by Dutch qualifier Karen Kronemeyer in the previous round,
was no match for the experienced Grainger, going down 9-0, 9-2, 9-2 as the
favourite notched up her 31st appearance in a WISPA final.
Teenager El Weleily, who
tested Grainger for five games in last week's Epstein Becker & Green
Los Angeles Open final, has also reached the final without dropping a
game. And the 18-year-old second seed from Alexandria also faced an
opponent who had been taken the full distance 24 hours earlier, Manuela
Manetta eventually dislodging India's fifth seed Joshna Chinappa
9-3, 6-9, 3-9, 9-3, 9-4.
But the fast-improving
fourth seed from Italy was unable to reproduce the same form in the semis
as El Weleily strode to a 9-6,
10-8, 9-5 victory, and her fourth WISPA Tour final.
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