20/09/2011
SOUTHWEST OPEN 2011
Khan Wins Southwest Open Title
Southwest
Open 2011
14-17 Sep, Phoenix, USA, $12k |
Round One
15 Sep |
Quarters
16 Sep |
Semis
16 Sep |
Final
17 Sep |
[1] Latasha Khan
(Usa)
11-8,11-8, 11-9 (25 mins)
Larissa Stephenson (Nzl) |
Latasha Khan
14-12, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9 (60m)
Tenille Van Der Merwe |
Latasha Khan
11-2, 11-5, 11-7 (24m)
Miranda Ranieri |
Latasha Khan
7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 (58 m
Nicolette Fernandes |
[7] Tenille Van Der Merwe (Rsa)
11-9,6-11,11-13, 11-7,11-6 (65 mins)
[Q] Salma Hany (Egy) |
[3] Victoria Lust (Eng)
12-10,11-9,11-8 (33 mins)
Milou Van Der Heijden (Ned) |
Victoria Lust
4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 (75m)
Miranda Ranieri |
[6] Miranda Ranieri
(Can)
11-7,11-9,11-2 (25 mins)
Adel Nunan (Rsa) |
Alexandra Norman (Can)
11-8,9-11,11-8,11-8 (40 mins)
[8] Siyoli Waters (Rsa) |
Siyoli Waters
4-11, 11-0, 11-5, 13-11 (35m)
Sarah Cardwell |
Siyoli Waters
11-5, 11-3 9-11, 11-13, 11-7 (68m)
Nicolette Fernandes |
[Q] Sarah Cardwell
(Aus)
11-9,9-11,11-3,11-2 (34 mins)
[4] Orla Noom (Ned) |
[Q] Yathreb Adel (Egy)
8-11,11-7,11-3,9-11,11-9 (68 mins)
[5] Nicolette Fernandes (Guy) |
Nicolette Fernandes
11-4, 11-9, 11-8 (50m)
Manuela Manetta |
[Q] Merhan Amr Mahmoud (Egy)
9-11,11-3,11-8,11-7 (40 mins)
[2] Manuela Manetta (Ita) |
Khan Wins
Southwest Open Title
Latasha Khan won her 8th WISPA title and second of the year this week in Phoenix
at the Tour 8 Southwest Open. The event was back on the tour again after proving
to be a huge success last year.
The tournament featured a truly international flavour to it, with ten nations
making up the sixteen main draw places. Australia's Sarah Cardwell and three
extremely talented Egyptians took up the four qualifying spots in the main
draw.
As the first round unfolded it was to be Cardwell providing the only upset, as
all the other seeds moved on to the quarter finals. Fourth seed Orla Noom
appeared to still be plagued by a leg injury that has hampered her recently,
but she levelled at one game all against Cardwell before the Aussie capitalised
on the Dutch girl's restricted movement and eased through in four games. There
were straight game wins for sixth seed Miranda Ranieri, third seed Victoria Lust
and top seed Khan. Eighth seed Siyoli Waters dropped the second game to
Alexandra Norman but managed to hold off the Canadian in a very close contest.
The three Egyptian qualifiers didn't make it through but they were all mighty
close. Merhan Amr Mahmoud took for the first game against second seed Manuela
Manetta but the Italian had a bit too much variety and flair in the end. Salma
Hany led seventh seed Tenille Van Der Merwe two games to one before the gritty
South African eventually wore Hany down after sixty five minutes of play. The
last match was three minutes longer in length and even closer. Recent Orange
County finalised Yathreb Adel extended fifth seed Nicolette Fernandes to the
limit but Fernandes' experience saw her edge the fifth game 11/9.
The scheduling at the Southwest meant that the quarter finals and semi finals
were played on the same day. The players would have liked to have saved as much
energy as possible in their quarter finals to be fresh for the semis but
unfortunately this didn't quite go to plan. Waters continued her run of good
form to end the chances of Cardwell. Cardwell came out and raced to the first
game, before Waters began to find her rhythm in the second and took the next two
games in commanding style before holding off a late run from the Aussie in the
fourth game tie break. Fernandes made it into the semi finals after upsetting
Manetta in straight games. The scoreline didn't reflect the closeness of the
match as the win took fifty minutes to complete. The top half of the draw
featured two matches that went right to the wire. Top seed Khan was first
through squeezing past Van Der Merwe in four extremely tight games that featured
two tie breaks that could have gone either way. Ranieri was the last into the
semi finals, taking seventy five gruelling minutes to edge third seed Victoria
Lust 11/9 in the fifth.
The evening session saw two contrasting semi finals. Ranieri's brutal quarter
final marathon took it's toll and the Canadian just couldn't find the same level
against Khan. Khan eased through in a relatively swift twenty four minutes to
move into the final and preserved some precious energy. Fernandes appeared to be
on her way into the final in equally impressive fashion, comfortably going two
games ahead. Waters however upped the pace and cut out the unforced errors to
draw the match level after a fourth game tie break went her way. It looked like
it might be an almighty comeback for her but Fernandes managed to stay a few
points ahead throughout the fifth to close out the match after sixty eight
minutes.
The final was an eighteenth for Khan and just Fernandes' third. It was also the
third meeting between the two, with Khan winning the previous two. Fernandes
started the better, using her speed and pace to take advantage. Khan is possibly
the most experienced played on the tour though and her quality of shot and
clever tactics allowed her to take a two game to one lead. Fernandes had been on
court over three hours in her first three matches and this took it's toll in the
fourth as Khan managed to build a solid lead and never let her back in.
It was a popular home victory for the American, as she shows she is still a
force to be reckoned with on the tour.
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