Qualifying Final:
Joey Chan (Hkg) bt
Victoria Lust (Eng) 11/5, 10/12, 12/10, 11/8
Nour El Sherbini (Egy) bt Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 11/5, 11/6, 11/6
Emma Beddoes (Eng) bt
Kristen Lange (Usa) 11/5, 11/4, 11/5
Donna Urquhart (Aus) bt Anna Kimberley (Eng) 11/3, 11/5, 11/6
Qualifying Round One:
Victoria Lust (Eng) 3-0 Daksha Pathak (Usa) 11/4, 11/3, 11/1
Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0 Larissa Stephenson (Nzl) 11/9, 11/6, 11/6
Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 3-0 Roxanna Keshavarz (Eng) 11/3, 11/2, 11/6
Kristen Lange (Usa) 3-0 Anaka Alankamony (Ind) 11/7, 11/4, 13/11
Anna Kimberley (Eng)
3-0
Belen Etchechoury (Arg) 11/2, 11/6,
11/5
El Sherbini Triumphs In Texas
Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini claimed the biggest
Women's Squash Association World Tour title of her career when
she upset India's No4 seed Dipika Pallikal in the final of
the Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open in Houston,
USA.
The match brought to a climax a sensational week for the 18-year-old
qualifier from Alexandria who removed three seeds - including
Malaysia's event favourite and world No7 Low Wee Wern -
en-route to the final of the WSA Gold 50 event at The
Downtown Club at the Met.
Pallikal, the world No12 from Chennai, was celebrating the biggest
Tour final of her career - while world junior champion El Sherbini
was continuing the form of her life which had seen the youngster
reach last month's WSA World Championship final after
upsetting world number one Nicol David.
"Both players started off battling some early nerves, getting
tangled and playing several lets, but El Sherbini (pictured
above, left, in action with Pallikal) quickly settled to take
the first game 11-6," reported event spokesman Larissa Stephenson.
"Both players have similar attacking styles but Pallikal showed more
patience in the second game, working solid tight drives and
controlling the pace well, giving El Sherbini fewer options to take
the ball in short. Pallikal held on to take the game, but lost focus
in her game plan, becoming increasingly rattled by the referee's
decisions.
"Nour
stepped up in the third game, working in nice holds and great
length, adding some of her trademark sublime drop shot nicks to take
the lead. More conversations with the referee from both girls, and
to Pallikal's frustration the third ended with a stroke to El
Sherbini off a Pallikal drop shot.
"The fourth was the closest of the games, point for point to
seven-all with both girls working more length and showing good
patience before attacking. El Sherbini managed to pull away and gain
a couple of points, giving her a cushion at 10-7.
"Pallikal fought back, holding her nerve and hitting some great
shots to work El Sherbini around the court and save one match ball,
but that was all she managed as El Sherbini held on to take the
match, backing up her impressive form from the World Open to take
the title here at the Texas Open."
The 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8 triumph in 48 minutes marks the fourth -
but biggest - Tour title of El Sherbini's career to date and is sure
to see the world No13 make further significant progress in the next
WSA World Rankings.
El
Sherbini was quick share her joy with her Facebook fans: "So happy
to win my 4th and my biggest title in my career in the Texas Open -
it's been an amazing week here started from the first round of the
qualification.
"To win the tournament and to beat some seeded players (omneya abdel
kawy no 11, wee wern no 7, camille serme no 6 and dipika pallikal no
12)
"Hopefully I can make it to the top 10 in May's ranking. Thank you
everyone for your support. Now it's time for some shoppingggggg!"
Texas Open images courtesy of Martin Langley (presentation) and
ArmaÄŸan Ünal (action)
After pulling off significant upsets in the semi-finals of the
Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open in the USA, India's No4
seed Dipika Pallikal and Egyptian qualifier Nour El
Sherbini will contest the final of the Women's Squash
Association Gold 50 event at The Downtown Club at the Met
in Houston.
Former Asian Junior Champion Pallikal marched into the biggest Tour
final of her career in sensational style. The 22-year-old world No12
from Chennai battled for 75 minutes - enduring three tie-break games
- to beat second seed Madeline Perry, the Irish number one
ranked four places higher in the world, 11-7, 11-13, 13-11, 10-12,
11-4.
The win, which levels her Tour head-to-head record with Perry to
two-all, takes Pallikal (pictured above, left, with Perry)
into her first Tour final of the year, but the 12th of her career.
El
Sherbini maintained the magnificent form which saw the teenager
become the youngest player in history to reach the WSA World
Championship final last month when, unseeded, she scored a
series of upsets in Malaysia - including the scalp of the world
number one Nicol David.
In
her fifth Tour meeting with third seed Camille Serme, the
18-year-old from Alexandria defeated the world No6 from France 11-5,
11-9, 9-11, 11-6 in 55 minutes to move into the seventh Tour final
of her career.
El
Sherbini (pictured above with Serme, left) leapt from 27 to
13 in the WSA World Rankings after her historic World Championship
run in March - and can already be sure to improve on this position
in the May list.
The final will mark the third Tour meeting between Pallikal and El
Sherbini since June 2010 - with Pallikal looking for her maiden win.
Texas Open images courtesy of Martin Langley
Streaming video will be available
starting April 10th hosted by
www.livestream.com
Please tune in, or stop by, to see some exciting sport being
played."
Malaysian favourite Low Wee Wern suffered at the hands of the
sport's teenage 'giant-killer' when she crashed out of the
Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open to 18-year-old qualifier
Nour El Sherbini in the quarter-finals of the Women's
Squash Association Gold 50 event at The Downtown Club at the
Met in Houston, USA.
The Egyptian produced one of the shocks of the millennium last month
when she downed Malaysia's world number one Nicol David at
the WSA World Championship to become the event's youngest
ever finalist.
Wee Wern, ranked seven in the world, was hoping to avenge her
compatriot's home soil defeat. But it was world No13 El Sherbini
that again prevailed in Houston, taking 46 minutes to claim her
surprise semi-final berth 11-3, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6.
Alexandria-based El Sherbini (pictured above, left, with Wee Wern),
who later this year could win the World Junior title for a record
fourth time, now takes on third seed Camille Serme for a
place in the final.
French number one Serme, the world No6, ended the run of Australia's
eighth seed Rachael Grinham - beating the 37-year-old former
world champion, who made her Texas Open debut in 2002, 8-11, 17-15,
11-6, 11-4 in 47 minutes.
The other semi-final will be the clash predicted by the seedings -
featuring Madeline Perry, the defending champion from
Ireland, and Dipika Pallikal, India's top-ranked player who
is making her Texas Open debut.
Second seed Perry, ranked eight in the world, avenged her defeat to
Emma Beddoes in last month's WSA Gold Windy City Open
by beating the English qualifier 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 in 48
minutes.
Fourth seed Dipika Pallikal - with coach Sarah Fitz-Gerald,
the Australian legend who won five world titles, in her corner - had
to resist a determined fightback by Guyana's unseeded Nicolette
Fernandes before prevailing 11-4, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-5 in 64
minutes.
Seeds Suffer In Texas Openers
There were upsets aplenty in the opening round of the Women's
Champion Fiberglass Texas Open, the Women's Squash
Association Gold 50 event at The Downtown Club at the Met
in Houston, USA.
The championship, which has alternated between Dallas and
Houston since its launch in Houston in 2002, has attracted 13 of
the world's top 20 women squash players - led by Malaysia's world
No7 Low Wee Wern.
The 23-year-old top seed from Penang survived a tricky opener,
avenging her shock defeat by Sarah-Jane Perry in last year's
British Open by beating the world No18 from England 11-9,
11-9, 9-11, 11-7 in 64 minutes.
"The first three games could have gone either way for both players
with some stroke calls hurting both," reported a spokesman for the
event. "In the third they collided and both went down with Perry
getting the worst of it.
"After consultation with the on-site physio, and the referee
checking on her, Perry was able to win the third. But Wern came out
in the fourth with a determined look and went up 7-6 and never
looked back."
Wee Wern summed up the match for her Twitter followers later: "Tough
1st round against Sarah Jane Perry. Glad to come through with a
close 3-1 win in 64 mins. Quarters against Nour el Sherbini
tomorrow."
Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini produced one of the day's
three upsets: The 18-year-old from Alexandria was a qualifier - but
endorsed the quality of the form which earned her a place in last
month's WSA World Championship final by despatching
higher-ranked compatriot Omneya Abdel Kawy, the No7 seed from
Cairo, 11-4, 11-4, 12-10 in just 29 minutes.
The opening match of the day saw the demise of fifth seed Annie
Au. Guyana's unseeded Nicolette Fernandes led after the
first and third games - but the left-hander from Hong Kong, ranked
nine in the world, drew level on both occasions.
But the feisty Fernandes, ranked 10 places below, stuck to her guns
and closed out the match 12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 after 65
minutes to earn a place in the quarter-finals for the first time.
England's Emma Beddoes became the second qualifier to make
the last eight after upsetting sixth seed Kasey Brown, the
WSA President from Australia (pictured above, extreme right, with
fellow WSA members at the event's Welcome Reception), 11-4,
11-5, 4-11, 11-8 in 42 minutes.
Beddoes, the world No23 from Leeds, will now face No2 seed
Madeline Perry, the defending champion from Ireland. Perry
recovered from a game down to beat Hong Kong qualifier Joey Chan
7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 12-10.
France's world No6 Camille Serme, the highest-ranked player
in the draw, ended domestic interest in the event when she beat New
York's Amanda Sobhy 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8. The No3 seed,
winner of the title in 2012 when last in Houston, progresses to face
eighth seed Rachael Grinham.
The 37-year-old twice champion from Australia, who made her Texas
Open debut in the inaugural championship in 2002, defeated India's
Joshana Chinappa 11-7, 11-5, 11-5.
But there was Indian success earlier when fourth seed Dipika
Pallikal saved five game-balls in the opening game en-route to a
12-10, 11-8, 11-5 victory over Australian qualifier Donna
Urquhart. The world No12 from Chennai, making her Texas Open
debut, now faces Fernandes for a place in the semi-finals.
Houston
Hosts Champion Fiberglass Texas Open Gold
One of the longest-established events on the
Women's Squash Association World Tour celebrates Gold for the
first time in Houston this week when the Champion
Fiberglass Texas Open opens its doors to 11 of the world's top
20 women at The Downtown Club at the Met in the USA's fourth
largest city from 8-13 April.
The 2014 WSA Gold 50 championship marks the
13th staging of the event which has alternated between Dallas
and Houston each year since its launch in 2002.
Malaysia's world No7 Low Wee Wern is seeded to
win the title for the first time - but will face stiff competition
from three former champions, including title-holder Madeline
Perry, the world No8 from Ireland; France's Camille Serme,
the 2012 champion now ranked six in the world; and Australia's
former world number one Rachael Grinham, the champion in 2004
and 2011 who made her Texas Open debut in the inaugural event in
2002.
Home hopes will be led by New York's Amanda Sobhy,
the 20-year-old Harvard University student who celebrates a
career-high world No15 ranking this month.
"Having a Gold level, the first time here, is a
tribute how much squash has grown in the last two years in this
city," said John Leavy, President of the Houston Squash
Racquets Association, the championship hosts. "The sponsors have
gotten together and decided to show off how much they want this
sport to match the exciting growth of Houston.
"Taking over the HSRA one and a half years ago, I
received 1-2 mails, or calls monthly, about where to play squash and
how newcomers could get involved. That number is up to between 12-15
monthly with questions about our squash community.
"The HSRA, along with our long-time partner Champion
Fiberglass, is excited to see the talent we have been able to
attract this year.
"Not only many veterans that have played here before
- such as Camille Serme 2012's winner here - but also
Madeline Perry, 2013's winner in Dallas.
"Returning is Rachael Grinham and Kasey
Brown, and Donna Urquhart. But also the ladies knocking
on the top players door such as Low Wee Wern, Sarah-Jane
Perry, and especially Nour El Sherbini, a surprise at the
recent Worlds," added Leavy.
"All players will be treated to entrance to the US
Clay Court Tennis Championships, a wonderful Wednesday night party
at one of the sponsor beautiful homes, swag bags with many goodies,
and a "special" tournament treat!
"The HSRA is ready to show off to
the world how we can put on a show equalled to other top cities.
Streaming video will be available starting April 10th hosted by
www.livestream.com
Please tune in, or stop by, to see some exciting sport being
played."
