October 27, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 14, 1428

MADRID, Oct 26: Rachael Grinham, the former world No 1 from Australia who caused a sensation in last month’s British Open final, moved closer to her second major title of the year when she hurtled into the World Open semi-finals on an all-glass court in front of the royal palace at the Spanish capital.

Grinham upset world No 1 Nicol David from match point down in Manchester, and now looked menacingly confident as she outplayed Jenny Duncalf, the ninth-seeded English player, by 9-3, 9-2, 9-1 here late on Thursday.

It took only 38 minutes and even though she had just moved from playing in 30 degrees centigrade on conventional club courts to an outdoor show-court venue at night amidst single figure temperatures, Grinham’s performance was a triumph of adaptability.

She controlled the cooler and less responsive ball superbly, moved with her usual brilliance, and had already established a psychological dominance by the middle of the second game.

And with Nicol having suffered her second shock defeat in five weeks, to New Zealand No 1 Shelley Kitchen in Wednesday’s second round, the road could be opening up for the mobile and unorthodox Aussie to go all the way again.

But Grinham had to wait to see who her semi-final opponent was to be, because before Kitchen could begin her semi-final against Natalie Grainger, the former world No 1 from the United States, a 20-minute power cut brought a half-hour delay.

However the third seed from Toowomba had already shown enough to show she is the favourite to reach the final in the top half, and the seedings say that the World Open should see its first ever final between two sisters.

Earlier the younger sibling, Natalie Grinham, also won. The second-seeded Commonwealth champion scored a 4-9, 9-2, 9-0, 9-4 success over Omneya Abdel Kawy, the leading Egyptian, which means that both sisters have reached the semi-finals for the fourth year in a row.

Natalie had looked to be struggling against the brilliant front court play of Kawy during the first 15 minutes, but once she got her balletic movement going and took the initiative more, she also took control.

She allowed Kawy to serve only once in the third game, and she finished the match relaxed and confident about further progress.

The younger Grinham next plays Tania Bailey, the fourth-seeded English player who has been struggling through sinusitis and tough matches all week, and twice nearly quite the tournament.

Despite this Bailey saved three game points in the second game to win 9-0, 10-9, 7-9, 9-4 against Vanessa Atkinson, the former world champion from Holland, who was being coached by David.

Her success prevented a romantic double because 2,800 miles away Atkinson’s boy-friend James Willstrop, the British No 1, had already beaten Lee Beachill, the former world No 1, by 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the world’s richest tournament, the $210,000 Saudi International Championships in Al Khobar.

Later the elder Grinham learnt that she would face Natalie Grainger, the former world No 1 from the United States, who outplayed Kitchen, David’s conqueror, 9-2, 9-1, 9-0 in less than half an hour.

Despite the excellence the New Zealander had displayed in beating the champion, the one-sided loss was not a major surprise given the utterly different conditions compared with the day before.

The court was perfectly tailored to Grainger’s front court skills, which cut gaps in the Kitchen defences and denied opportunities to the big-hitting game which had brought down David.

Thursday’s results (x denotes seeds):

Quarter-finals: Tania Bailey (ENG x4) bt Vanessa Atkinson (NED x8) 9-0, 10-9, 7-9, 9-4; Natalie Grinham (AUS x2) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY x7) 4-9, 9-2, 9-0, 9-4; Rachael Grinham (AUS x3) bt Jenny Duncalf (ENG x9) 9-3, 9-2, 9-1; Natalie Grainger (USA x5) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZL x10) 9-2, 9-1, 9-0.—AFP