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| December 3, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 30, 1426 |
Australian sisters set for showdown in semis
HONG KONG, Dec 2: Rachael and Natalie Grinham will become the first sisters ever to play each other in the later stages of a major squash tournament when the two Australians compete in the semifinals of the World Open on Saturday.
Their showdown was sealed when top-seed and older sister Rachael overcame Madeline Perry, the surprise quarter-finalist from Ireland, 9-4,9-4,10-8.
Earlier Friday, fifth-seeded Natalie kept alive her chances of reaching the World Open final for the second successive year by beating Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt 9-1,1-9,9-4,9-0 in a stop-start contest.
Although the sisters are of a similar standard, Natalie has only ever beaten Rachael twice on the tour and admitted she found matches between the so-called Toowoomba two-some emotionally very difficult.
But Rachael was not as concerned about the prospect. “Maybe the Williams sisters find it difficult to play each other, but maybe they are a little bit dramatic because they are Americans,” a laughing Rachael said of the tennis stars.
Earlier, in the first quarterfinal, Kawy, the first Muslim woman ever to reach the world top ten, looked dangerous against Natalie in the middle of the match. Her penchant for taking risks in front was well-suited to an unusually cool court which made the ball die quickly.
At 3-4 in the second game, the ninth-seed from Cairo was still in with a chance of causing an upset, but she faded away, perhaps affected by the long five-game match she had played against Tegwen Malik from Wales the day before.
Gradually Natalie’s superb movement, perhaps even better than her brilliantly mobile elder sister’s, enabled her to reach anything that Kawy pitched in short. She increasingly got into better positions to finish off the rallies.
Rachael’s later victory over the 12th-seeded Perry was the closer contest even though it only went to three games. The Irish player led 3-0 in the first game, and 4-0 in the second, and came back dangerously from 3-8 to 8-8 in the third.
The rallies were long and sometimes spectacular with some fine retrieving by both of them. But the Australian’s greater capacity for volleying more often enabled her to dictate play.
The outcome of her match against her sister is likely to depend on entirely different factors - probably on who adapts better. The tournament will move to an all-glass outdoor court on the edge of Hongkong harbour, where the playing conditions are likely to be very different, for the match.
Results:
Women’s singles (quarterfinals): Rachael Grinham (Australia) bt Madeline Perry (Ireland) 9-4 9-4 10-8; Natalie Grinham (Australia) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egypt) 9-1 1-9 9-4 9-0; Nicol David (Malaysia) bt Linda Elriani (England) 9-4 9-7 9-7; Vanessa Atkinson (Netherlands) bt Vicky Botwright (England) 9-6 9-0 9-7.
Peter Nicol (England) bt Thierry Lincou (France) 8-11 11-3 11-5 11-9; Amr Shabana (Egypt) bt Lee Beachill (England) 11-5 11-7 11-4; David Palmer (Australia) bt Anthony Ricketts (Australia) 11-9 2-11 11-9 7-11 11-8; James Willstrop (England) bt Jonathon Power (Canada) 11-6 7-11 11-6 11-6.—Agencies
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