But the 30-year-old top seed from Australia was made to work hard for the title by Kheirallah, the second seed. 

The 25-year-old former champion from Alexandria took the first game before world number three Grinham powered back from 3-5 down in the second game to clinch victory by a 2-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-4 margin.

Grinham's maiden win at the Alexandria Sporting Club Open brings to four the number of WISPA Tour titles she has won in Egypt since moving to Cairo in 2001.  However, the success takes her career Tour title haul to 24 - thereby extending her lead ahead of Malaysia's world number one Nicol David as the current player with the most Tour titles!

Top Seeds Grinham & Kheirallah In Alexandria Final
Australia's Rachael Grinham will contest her 40^th WISPA World Tour squash final when she faces Egypt's Engy Kheirallah in the climax of the Women's Alexandria Sporting Club Open at the Alexandria Sporting Club in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

The 30-year-old from Toowoomba in Queensland, who first made her mark in the sport in 1993 when she became the World Junior Champion, beat the reigning world title holder Raneem El Weleily, the fourth seed from Egypt, 9-6, 2-9, 9-1, 9-5.

It was in March 1998 that Grinham, a former world number one now ranked three in the WISPA list, claimed her maiden Tour final appearance - winning the Toulouse Open in France.

There was also local Alexandria interest in the other semi-final, in which the 2005 champion Engy Kheirallah, the No2 seed from Alexandria, beat defending champion Isabelle Stoehr, the No3 seed from France, 10-9, 6-9, 9-7, 9-2 

The 2007 Alexandria Sporting Club final will mark Grinham and Kheirallah's second meeting this month, their fourth this year, their fifth on Egyptian soil, and the 11^th of their careers.  But it is the Australian who has always prevailed - leaving the 25-year-old Kheirallah looking for her first win in their first encounter on her home club's courts.

Raneem Rallies To Alexandria Semi-Finals
In a game between two of the sport's stars of the future, 18-year-old Raneem El Weleily battled to a straight games win over 20-year-old South African Tenille Swartz in the Women's Alexandria Sporting Club Open to reach the semi-finals of the WISPA World Tour squash event at the Alexandria Sporting Club in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

In her first senior Tour event since winning a record-equalling second World Junior Championship title in Hong Kong earlier this month, El Weleily was fully tested by sixth seed Swartz before beating the three-times South African National champion 10-8, 9-3, 9-6.

Fourth seed El Weleily, playing on her home courts in Alexandria, will now face top seed Rachael Grinham, the Cairo-based Australian who was the 1993 winner of the world junior crown.  Grinham, the world No3, crushed Malaysia's fifth seed Tricia Chuah 9-1, 9-2, 9-1.

Two Alexandria Sporting Club champions will contest the other semi-final when France's defending champion Isabelle Stoehr faces the 2005 champion Engy Kheirallah.

Stoehr, the third seed from France, defeated Orla Noom, from the Netherlands, 9-0, 9-3, 9-4, while local star Kheirallah, the second seed from Alexandria, crushed Pakistan qualifier Maria Toor Pakay 9-1, 9-0, 9-0.

Pakay Punishes Mylotte In Alexandria Upset
Maria Toor Pakay, a 16-year-old from Pakistan making her first appearance on the WISPA World Tour outside her home country, caused an impressive upset in the first round of the Women's Alexandria Sporting Club Squash Open in Egypt when she defeated Ireland's experienced No8 seed Laura Mylotte in five games at the Alexandria Sporting Club in Alexandria.

Mylotte, the 32-year-old from Galway who this month celebrated a career-high world No 46 ranking, twice led in the match against qualifier Pakay.  But the novice teenager kept fighting back before finally celebrating her historic 4-9, 9-5, 0-9, 9-3, 9-7 win - and a place in the quarter-finals.

The recently-crowned Pakistan women's national champion will now face local star Engy Kheirallah, the Alexandria-based No2 seed who faced a stern test against compatriot Nour Bahgat - playing in her first Tour event since helping Egypt to victory in the Women's World Junior Team Championship in Hong Kong -  before winning 9-4, 8-10, 9-1, 9-0.

Kheirallah, winner of the title in 2005, is seeded to reach Wednesday's final, where she is expected to face top seed Rachael Grinham.  The Cairo-based Australian cruised to victory in her first round match, beating Egyptian qualifier Amnah El Trabolsy 9-0, 9-4, 9-1.