Waters Continues Winning Trend In British Opener

Fresh from three consecutive WSA title wins, local wild card Alison Waters maintained her winning ways in the first round of the WSA Allam British Open Squash Championships, as she took out 13th seed Low Wee Wern in a scrappy 70-minute five-setter. It was a contest could have gone either way, as
neither player maintained a faultless game.

Waters spoke afterwards at her relief to have put the match to rest. She
said: “I’m relieved to have won that match really. It was a bit of an ugly
contest and I sort of scraped through at the end. Wern played really
well. She moved well and kept up the pressure all the way through. It’s
good to get the first match out of the way and I’m looking forward to
playing at the O2.”****

** **

When play moves to the O2 Arena in London for round two and the rest of the
competition, Waters will face No7 seed *Annie Au. *The Hong Kong
international* *saw out a 3-1 win against Swiss qualifier *Gaby Huber*at *St
Georges Hill Tennis Club, Weybridge* to book her second round spot. An
upset had seemed possible early on, as Huber started quickly and took the
first game, but Au closed the game out in under an hour 6/11, 11/6, 11/1,
14/12. ****

Despite the slow start, Au was pleased with her win. She said: “I seemed
to start quite slow today, and it took me a while to get used to her
speed. In the second and third games I just tried to slow the game down
and be more assertive than before. I think I tried to win the fourth too
quickly and started rushing again, but Gaby made some errors which helped
me to get back on track.”

The highlight of playing at the O2 Arena from round two is something that
is on the minds a lot of the players, says No4 seed *Madeline Perry* having
dispatched Canadian qualifier *Samantha Cornett* in straight games.
“Everyone’s keen to make it that far,” said the Irish international. “It’s
always nice to play well in round one, especially against a qualifier who
has already had a match or two to warm up. It’ll be great to get across
there tomorrow.”

Perry will face Egyptian teenager *Nour El Sherbini*, who was forced
five-games in her first round match by *Joey Chan*. A lapse in
concentration by the 16-year-old teenager, allowed the Hong Kong
international to claw back level from a two-game deficit. Refocused
however, Sherbini settled back into a rhythm to finish the contest 11/3 in
the fifth.

Sherbini’s Egyptian counterpart *Raneem El Weleily* also saw success in
round one, but not before being pushed to the longest game of the day as
she claimed a 19/17 second game, on her way to a 3-0 victory against *Amanda
Sobhy* of America.

Weleily will face *Dipika Pallikal* in the second round, an opponent
against whom she has never lost. The Indian star nearly crashed out of the
event in round one after going two games down to* Omenya Abdel Kaway* of
Egypt, in a fractious and gritty tie. Pallikal turned it around however,
as the Egyptian’s fitness waned and Kaway began to rely more and more on
her front-court prowess.

“I just had to go into that third game and keep on pushing,” explained the
world No14. “I knew fitness might work in my favour as she’s been out with
injury recently. But she’s very crafty at the front, very deceptive, so I
tried to keep the ball at the back of the court for long spells.

“I’m really glad to get through though. The squash at the O2 has sounded
incredible so far and it’s great for squash that we can be seen at these
incredible venues.”

Eighth seed *Kasey Brown*’s hopes of a British Open run were ended by
unseeded *Jaclyn Hawkes* of New Zealand. The Australian went two games
down to Hawkes, before a change of tactics saw her back in contention at
2-all. In a thrilling final game encounter lasting 27-minutes, Hawkes
scraped back two-match balls to force a tiebreak, which she claimed 13-11.

Buoyed by her first round win, Hawkes confessed that the O2 was not her
sole focus this week. “This is the last competition before I get married,”
explains the WSA President. “I really wanted a good run in this
competition, not only for the O2 spectacle but I also want one last good
tournament as a Hawkes!

“It was a very close match and although I played well in the first two
games, she mixed it up more from then, taking the ball short and making
things much harder for me.”

*Joelle King* joined her New Zealand compatriot in the second round after
dismissing the hopes of French qualifier *Coline Aumard* in 28-minutes.

On the glass showcourt, No2 seed *Jenny Duncalf* saw off the Malaysian
threat of *Delia Arnold* 11/6, 10/12, 11/8, 11/6 in just under an hour.
This was followed by tenth seed *Camille Serme* of France beating England’s
*Sarah Kippax* in a similarly close four-game encounter.

Third seed *Laura Massaro* faced a tough first round match against an
in-form* Latasha Khan*, who had made short work of her qualifying
opponents. Despite taking the first game, the Englishwoman found herself
2-1 down and admitted to using the prospect of playing at the O2 as an
incentive to coming back and winning the game. She said: “At 2-1 down I
thought about missing out on playing at the O2 tomorrow and it definitely
fired me up.

“You never want a 3-2 battle in the first round of any tournament, but a
win is a win. Latasha has played really well recently, so I knew it would
be tough from the start. I’m glad and relieved to have come through
though.”

Fellow Brit* Emma Beddoes *looked to be springing a surprise of her own as
she took the first game against Australian and current British Open
champion *Rachael Grinham*. Experienced paid dividends throughout the next
two games however, as Grinham worked her way back into the match and
extended a 2-1 lead. Ever resilient, Beddoes refused to be walked over and
held her own for much of the fourth game. Forcing the tiebreak at 10-all,
she had opportunities to finish the game and push for a fifth, following
some remarkable retrieval but the Australian proved too much in the end,
taking it 15/13.

Rachael’s sister *Natalie Grinham *gave birthday-girl* Sarah-Jane Perry* a
lesson to remember in her British Open debut, as the experienced Dutch
international put in an a consummate performance to progress to the next
round, 11/9, 11/5, 11/7 in 30-minutes.

World No1 *Nicol David* began her British Open title bid with a straight
forward win over qualifier *Maria Toor Pakay* in straight games. The
Malaysian star was among the last matches of the day, and will face *Samantha
Teran* of Mexico, who progresses after beating *Lauren Briggs* of England
11/9, 11/6, 11/3.

Play now moves from St Georges Hill to the O2 Arena for the rest of the
British Open.

*Photographs available upon request to [email protected]*

*First Round results:*****

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [Q] Maria Toor Pakay (PAK) 11-2, 11-3, 11-6
(20m)****

[11] Samantha Teran (MEX) bt [Q] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7
(30m)****

[6] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Emma Beddoes (ENG) 11-13, 11-7, 11-5,
15-13 (58m)****

[12] Joelle King (NZL) bt [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA) 11-6, 11-7,
11-4 (28m)****

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Latasha Khan (USA) 11-5, 8-11, 9-11,
11-6, 11-3 (55mins)****

[9] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [Q] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 11-9, 11-5, 11-7
(30m)****

Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [8] Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-7, 11-2, 4-11, 6-11,
13-11 (82m)****

[10] Camille Serme (FRA) bt Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5
(51m)****

Alison Waters (ENG) bt [13] Low Wee Wern (MAS) 9-11, 12-10, 11-7,
8-11, 11-7 (70m)****