30/06/2008
EPSTEIN BECKER AND GREEN LA OPEN
Tested Teran Takes LA Title
Epstein
Becker & Green LA Open
25-29 June, LA Athletic Club, $20k |
Round One
26-Jun |
Quarters
27-Jun |
Semis
28-Jun |
Final
29-Jun |
[1] Samantha Teran
(Mex)
9/2, 9/4, 9/0 (28m)
Tara Mullins (Can) |
Samantha Teran
9/5, 6/9, 9/2, 10/9 (49m)
Donna Urquhart |
Samantha Teran
8-10, 9-0, 9-7, 6-9, 9-6 (99m)
Manuela Manetta |
Samantha Teran
9-3, 9-4, 5-9, 9-2 (70m)
Louise Crome |
[6] Donna Urquhart
(Aus)
9/1, 9/1, 9/1 (20m)
[Q] Stephanie Edmison (Can) |
[4] Manuela Manetta
(Ita)
10/8, 9/5, 9/2 (34m)
[Q] Thaisa Serafini (Bra) |
Manuela Manetta
9/7, 10/9, 8/10, 9/3 (69m)
Suzie Pierrepont |
[7] Suzie Pierrepont
(Eng)
9/4, 9/0, 9/4 (24m)
[Q] Tina Rix (Eng) |
Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
9/2, 5/9, 9/1, 9/2 (43m)
[8] Alana Miller (Can) |
Alana Miller
10/8, 9/1, 9/1 (42m)
Louise Crome |
Louise Crome
9-0, 9-5, 9-0 (32m)
Aisling Blake |
[Q] Eman El Amir (Egy)
9/0, 9/5, 9/6 (36m)
[3] Louise Crome (Nzl) |
Karina Herrera Zuniga (Mex)
9/3, 9/1, 9/4 (26m)
[5] Aisling Blake (Irl) |
Aisling Blake
10/8, 6/9, 9/6, 9/7 (75m)
Latasha Khan |
Deon Saffery (Wal)
9/2, 9/1, 9/1 (26m)
[2] Latasha Khan (Usa) |
Tested Teran Takes LA Title
Despite
enduring a 99-minute semi-final in the Women's Epstein Becker & Green
Los Angeles Open, top-seeded Mexican Samantha Teran survived a
70-minute final to win the $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event in
its second year at Los Angeles Athletic Club in Los Angeles.
Opponent Louise Crome, the third seed from New Zealand, tried to
mix it up during the match - but Teran maintained her characteristic
hard-driving game-plan, putting the Kiwi under relentless pressure.
Teran got off to an excellent start, quickly going 8-1 up. But Crome
battled to stay in the game, and only after 12 game balls did the
27-year-old from Mexico City take the lead.
The favourite again took a quick lead in the second before taking the game
- but Crome achieved the same in the third to reduce the deficit. Teran
survived several brutal rallies in the fourth before eventually
celebrating her 9-3, 9-4, 5-9, 9-2 victory - the 11th Tour title of her
career and the fourth this year.
"Louise is difficult to play, she has very good technique and hits the
ball hard so I had to really work to win that one," Teran said. "I think
I played better than I did yesterday, I had to think more, otherwise it
would have been even longer.
"This is my favourite event - it's not too far from home and there's lots
of Mexicans here to support me. We even went out for some Mexican food
last night!"
Crome conceded that Teran played well: "I knew that Samantha would be
driving the ball hard and low, that's her game, so I changed my game plan
for today and I was trying to slow it down and control it, but it's so hot
on there and it was hard not to get drawn into that game."
The triumph seals Teran's status as the top twenty player with the best
win average on the WISPA World Tour: With only two losses in her 13 final
appearances, the world No20 boasts an 85% success rate - ahead of
Malaysia's world No1 Nicol David at 67%; Dutch star Vanessa
Atkinson (61%); Australian Rachael Grinham (59%); USA's
Natalie Grainger (50%) and world No2 Natalie Grinham (41%).
Teran and Crome now head to Pachuca for the Women's Harrow
Mexican Open which gets underway on Thursday (3 July). Aucklander
Louise Crome, the third seed, and top seed Teran could again meet in the
final.
Teran & Crome To Meet In LA Final
Mexico's top seed Samantha Teran and third-seeded New Zealander
Louise Crome will meet in the final of the Women's Epstein Becker &
Green Los Angeles Open after coming through highly contrasting
semi-finals of the $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event in its
second year at Los Angeles Athletic Club in Los Angeles.
Teran avenged last year's quarter-final when she beat fourth seed
Manuela Manetta. While Manetta needed 70 minutes to achieve her 2007
upset, it took 99 minutes this time for the 27-year-old from Mexico City
to overcome the top-ranked Italian 8-10, 9-0, 9-7, 6-9, 9-6.
Whilst Teran survived a 120-minute battle on the WISPA Tour earlier this
year (beating USA's Latasha Khan in the Liberty Bell Open),
the LA semi was the longest match of Manetta's career.
"I wanted to set a record time before we go to 11 scoring!" Teran said
afterwards. "No, seriously, I tried everything and she tried everything -
it was a very close match. When I was up I knew I couldn't relax as she
would be coming back, and when I was down I became more determined not to
let her get away.
"I'm used to playing very long matches, since in Mexico I play a lot with
the men and the courts are very hot there too.
"It's nice to win, but I never thought about revenge for last year. It
was just a good match, and I'm really pleased to be in the final."
The other semi-final was wrapped up in less than a third of the time!
Louise Crome was in scintillating form as she despatched Ireland's fifth
seed Aisling Blake 9-0, 9-5, 9-0 in just 32 minutes.
Blake had claimed her unexpected place in the last four after upsetting
second seed Latasha Khan in the previous round.
"I felt really focused today, I don't really know how it happened but the
basis of my game was to drive it low and hard and pin her in the back
corners, and it was working really well," explained the 30-year-old from
Auckland.
"I lost to her 3/2 in February, and when we train together it's always
close, we always give 100% even in training, so I'm really pleased to make
the final - it's one of my biggest.
"I lost to Samantha the only time I played her, a couple of years ago, so
I'm looking forward to meeting her again."
Samantha Teran is celebrating her 13th appearance in a WISPA final - and
her fourth this year - while it is the 12th of Crome's career and her
third of the year. But both arrived in LA fresh from Tour victories - the
Kiwi after winning the Welsh Open earlier in the month and the
Mexican victorious in the Goshen Open in Indiana in May.
Blake Beats Khan In LA Upset
Fifth
seed Aisling Blake produced a stunning upset in the quarter-finals
of the Women's Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles Open when she
beat US star Latasha Khan, the No2 seed, to reach the semi-finals
of the $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event in its second year at
Los Angeles Athletic Club in Los Angeles.
It was
their third meeting in North America this year - the most recent of which,
in the Atwater Cup in Canada, was won by Blake after just a single
game when Khan retired injured.
But the
26-year-old from Sligo in Ireland was keen to achieve a more conventional
victory this time - and battled for 75 minutes to overcome the seven-time
US National champion from Seattle 10-8, 6-9, 9-6, 9-7.
"The
first was all her for the best part of the game - I was hitting loose and
she just pounced on it," Blake said afterwards. "I settled and started to
get a better length and got into it towards the end of the game and was
getting more opportunities.
"It was
the same pattern for the next three games. She played well to get 7-1 up
in the second, and I got leads in the third and fourth and squandered
them.
"I'm very
pleased, I haven't beaten her before but I like playing her, she's a good
competitor.
The
surprise semi-finalist will now face Louise Crome, the No3 seed
from New Zealand who defeated Canadian Alana Miller 10-8, 9-1,
9-1.
"I'd
never played Alana before, but Aisling and I play all the time and know
each other's games so well – it's good for both of us to be in the semis,"
said the 30-year-old Kiwi from Auckland.
Top seed
Samantha Teran will line up against fourth-seeded Italian
Manuela Manetta in the other semi. Mexican Teran beat Australia's
Donna Urquhart 9-5, 6-9, 9-2, 10-9, while Manetta survived a tough
four-game battle against US-based English opponent Suzie Pierrepont,
winning 9-7, 10-9, 8-10, 9-3 in 69 minutes.
Teran Takes Tara In LA Opener
On course to win her fourth WISPA World Tour squash title in the
USA this year, top seed Samantha Teran beat Canadian Tara
Mullins in the first round of the Women's Epstein Becker & Green
Los Angeles Open to claim a place in the last eight of the $20,000
event in its second year at Los
Angeles Athletic Club in Los
Angeles.
The world No20 from Mexico took just 28 minutes to overcome Mullins 9-2,
9-4, 9-0 and will now face Australian Donna Urquhart, the No6 seed,
for a place in the semi-finals.
"It's very hard to finish the ball off on there and she likes to run - so
that made it a hard game," Teran said. "We've played each other so many
times - whenever we're in a tournament together we always seem to be
playing, but thankfully I usually win!"
US hopes are being led by second seed Latasha Khan. The seven-time
US National champion from Seattle beat Welsh opponent Deon Saffery
9-2, 9-1, 9-1 - and now faces a quarter-final clash with Ireland's fifth
seed Aisling Blake.
|
