MELBOURNE, Oct 16: New Zealand’s Leilani Joyce struggled in the second round, but the top seed had no problem in becoming the first player to reach the semifinals of the women’s World Squash Open here Tuesday.

The 26-year-old needed just 29 minutes to fend off the challenge from England’s Fiona Geaves, 9-3, 9-2, 9-4, and set up a meeting with another English player, Linda Charman-Smith.

In an all-English quarter-final, Charman-Smith also had an easy passage. She beat Stephanie Brind 9-1, 9-0, 9-7 to reach the last four for the first time.

Joyce, who lost the world No.1 ranking to Australia’s Sarah Fitz-Gerald this month, had struggled to overcome England’s Vicky Botright in the previous round and she admitted that Geaves had suffered the backlash.

Charman-Smith had an unexpectedly easy ride and it could have been even more one-sided had Brind not staged a late rally.

She trailed by two games and 0-4 before coming back to lead 7-4 in the third. But Charman-Smith re-grouped to win in 27 minutes.

Tuesday’s results (x denotes seeding):

Quarterfinals: Leilani Joyce (Nzl x1) bt Fiona Geaves (Eng x5) 9-3, 9-2, 9-4; Linda Charman-Smith (Eng x4) bt Stephanie Brind (Eng x6) 9-1, 9-0, 9-7.—AFP