30-Jan,
Final Round Qualifying Results:
Sarah Kippax bt Deon Saffery 11/6, 11/7, 11/7 to play K Brown
Aisling Blake bt Fiona Moverley 13/11, 11/2, 11/2 to play M Perry
Joelle King bt Lisa Camilleri 11/4, 11/7, 11/2 to play E Kheirallah
Emma Beddoes bt Amanda Sobhy 11/6, 11/9, 4/11, 11/13, 11/2
to play Waters
29-Jan, Qualifying First Round:
Aisling Blake Bye
Fiona Moverley beat Lily Lorentzen 11/7, 11/7, 11/2.
Joelle King beat Yuko Ikeda 11/2, 11/1, 11/1.
Lisa Camilleri beat Fernanda Rocha 11/8, 11/0, 11/1
Amanda Sobhy beat Katja Amir 11/5, 11/1, 11/1
Emma Beddoes beat Samantha Cornett 3/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/7
Deon Saffery beat Miranda Ranieri 11/9, 11/9, 8/11, 10/12,
16/14
Sarah Kippax Bye
Waters
Celebrates New Year Double In Cleveland
England's
Alison Waters became the first player to win two WISPA World Tour
squash titles this year when she beat Egyptian rival Omneya Abdel Kawy in
the final of the Women's Burning River Classic, the $39,000 WISPA
World Tour Silver event at Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland
in the US state of Ohio.
It was only ten
days earlier that the pair faced off in the final of the Harrow Greenwich
Open in Connecticut, where Waters won the first Silver title of the year
without dropping a game.
"Tonight looked
to be heading the same way after Alison took a 2/0 game lead, but Omneya had no
intention of gifting Alison the title and the TAG watch that went along with the
winner’s purse," said tournament organiser Nathan Dugan.
Abdel
Kawy won the next two games to draw level – but four tins in nine rallies
from the second-seeded Egyptian was the major story of the fifth game as top
seed Waters, the world No5 from London, was able to regain her confidence and
reclaim the lead.
Despite a mini
comeback from Abdel Kawy to go from 9-3 to 9-6, the game already appeared out of
reach as Waters went on to win 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 11-6 in 57 minutes.
The victory
marked Waters' eighth match win in a row in 2010 and took her career WISPA title
tally to four from 11 final appearances.
Waters & Abdel Kawy To Contest Second WISPA Final This Year
Just ten days after battling for honours in the climax of the
Harrow Greenwich Open, England's
Alison Waters and Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy will meet again in
the final of the Women's Burning River Classic, the $39,000 WISPA
World Tour Silver event at Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland
in the US state of Ohio.
Top seed Waters, who moved to a career-high No5 in this month's
WISPA world rankings after winning the Greenwich title, brushed aside
Samantha Teran, the No7 seed from Mexico, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7.
"I am feeling good at the moment and playing some of the best
squash I have played," said the 25-year-old Londoner afterwards. "I hope there
is still some room for improvement though."
Second
seed Abdel Kawy
needed four games to overcome compatriot Raneem El Weleily,
the unseeded 21-year-old from Alexandria who upset fourth seed Laura Massaro
and fifth seed Kasey Brown to reach the semi-finals.
El Weleily took the opening game before world No7 Abdel Kawy took
control and closed out her 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 victory.
Waters is celebrating her 11th appearance in a WISPA Tour final,
while 24-year-old Abdel Kawy is marking up her 22nd.
Teran Topples Perry To Make Cleveland Semis
Mexican squash star Samantha Teran secured a surprise
place in the semi-finals of the Women's Burning River Classic after
dismissing third seed Madeline Perry in straight games in the
quarter-finals of the $39,000 WISPA World Tour Silver event at
Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was the 28-year-old world No14's second successive US victory
over Perry, the world No8 from Belfast.
"Madeline had not played to the top of her game in the first
round and she started off in her quarter final in the same vein," said
tournament organiser Nathan Dugan after seventh seed Teran's 11-2, 11-8,
11-8 win. "She never really looked settled on the court, despite moments of
quality - and Samantha took full advantage."
Perry confirmed that things had not gone her way: "I haven't
been feeling great on court all week. I could have done with Samantha giving me
a few cheap points - but she was solid today and didn't give me anything to get
going."
There was a further upset when Egypt's unseeded Raneem El
Weleily claimed the scalp of a second seed when she beat Kasey Brown,
the fifth seed from Australia, 2-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-8.
"Kasey had survived a severe test and a couple of match balls
during her first round, but was unable to produce the same miraculous comeback
when faced with a 2/1 game deficit today," Dugan explained.
"Raneem had quoted the previous night that she never knew which
player was going to turn up; the good Raneem or the bad one. Well it was the
latter that started the match, with Kasey taking full advantage. Good Raneem
didn’t stay dormant for long though as she controlled the second game from start
to finish."
El Weleily will now play compatriot Omneya Abdel Kawy, the
No2 seed who needed four games to overcome France's Isabelle Stoehr 11-6,
11-6, 7-11, 11-5.
"We both play a similar way," said Abdel Kawy, the world No7.
"It is high risk, so we will see who hits more tins tomorrow. That will
determine the winner!"
Raneem Rallies To Second Massaro Upset In Cleveland
Egypt's Raneem El Weleily pulled off the second US upset
in a week over England's Laura Massaro in the first round of the
Women's Burning River Classic when she beat the world No9 in five games to
reach the quarter-finals of the $39,000 WISPA World Tour Silver squash
event at Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland, Ohio.
"Raneem looked to be completely off the boil in the first two
games, making a string of unforced errors including serving out and boasting the
ball in to the tin on the return of serves," reported tournament organiser
Nathan Dugan.
But the unseeded 21-year-old from Alexandria turned things round
in the third game and went on to beat Massaro – ranked 12 places higher – 10-12,
4-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5.
Australia's fifth seed Kasey Brown also mounted an
incredible recovery to beat English qualifier Sarah Kippax. At 2/1 up in
games and two points away from winning at 9-3 in the fourth, Kippax experienced
a major comeback by Aussie Brown who ultimately clinched an 8-11, 8-11, 11-8,
13-11, 11-6 victory to earn the chance to meet El Weleily for a place in the
semi-finals.
But New Zealand qualifier Joelle King produced the shock
of the event with a five-game victory over world number 13 Engy Kheirallah.
After sharing the first two games, 21-year-old King raced to an early advantage
in the third.
"During a rally at 8-3, Joelle was completely knocked off her
feet after playing her shot and found herself seated on the floor," said Dugan.
"But she was still able to get up and scramble the next shot back somehow and
went on to take the game 11-6. An upset looked on the cards when Joelle
extended a game four lead to 6-3, but Engy had other ideas."
Sixth Kheirallah took the fourth game to level the match – but
the fast-improving Kiwi sprung back in the fifth, eventually delivering the
final blow with a tight backhand drop that was too tight for the Egyptian to
return, giving her a well-earned 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 victory.
TOP FOUR THROUGH TO MAIN
DRAW IN CLEVELAND
The top four seeds in
qualifying progressed to the main draw at the Cleveland Racquet Club on Saturday
afternoon, but not without a scare or two along the way! Aisling Blake was the
first to progress into the main draw with a victory over Fiona Moverley. Fiona
started well taking a 9-5 lead by cutting the ball off on the volley. Aisling
changed the pace a little to neutralize the volley, which she did pretty
effectively taking the game 13-11 and then she dominated the second and third
games.
Joelle King was too strong on
the night for Lisa Camilleri. Joelle, the world number 31, moved very smoothly
all match and played with great consistency. Lisa joked “it was like playing
against a giant brick wall, the ball just kept coming back!”
Emma Beddoes and Amanda Sobhy
produced a thriller for the crowd in the third match of the day. The first two
games went to Emma, and it looked like the world number 33 was on course for a
comfortable win. There were patches of brilliance from the young American in the
second game, but the combination of the tin and a very patient opponent meant
Amanda was facing a massive task to turn it around. Much to the crowds delight,
turn it round she did, as a series of great holds and attacking stroke play gave
Amanda, and the crowd, something to get excited about. She won the game 11-4.
Emma looked to have shaken off the loss of the third, producing a solid start to
the fourth game. Once again errors came from the 16 year olds racquet, but a
string of excellent attacking rallies brought Amanda straight back to 5 each.
From then on it was a see-saw battle with both trying to seize the initiative.
Amanda worked Emma to every corner of the court again, and again, and again. The
work took its toll and an exhausted looking Beddoes started to crumble. At 11-10
game ball to Amanda, they had a gut wrenching rally which Emma won, but it left
both players bent over doubled gasping for air. 11-11 produced another tired
error from Emma, and this time Amanda was able to close out with a tight counter
drop shot. That was the last stand for the talented American though as Emma dug
deep to reel off 9 straight rallies and book a place in the main draw. Whether
she has any legs left for tomorrow will have to wait and see.
The Last match of the night
was a fairly one sided affair between two players both residing in Yorkshire,
England. Sarah Kippax took full advantage of a sluggish Deon Saffery, who had
survived a marathon 16-14 in the 5th, the prior day. Sarah extended
some early rallies and looked ion control of the match from then on.
