British Open Squash 2002 Women's Final

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Martin Bronstein from Manchester UK see also: Men's Final Report
last updated on: April 16, 2002 10:32 see also: Finals Photos

[final men's draw] [final women's draw]

Sarah Fitz-Gerald Retains British Open Title
Manchester April 15 2002 © 2002 SquashTalk.
Photos special to SquashTalk by Fritz Borchert, © 2002

It was a brave performance by Tania Bailey, the 22 year old girl from Lincolnshire, but she simply could not give away ten years of solid experience when she faced the reigning British Open and World Champion Sarah-Fitz-Gerald in the National Squash Centre which was officially opened by the Mayor of Manchester just before the final.

It took Fitz-Gerald 34 minutes to win: she didn’t exactly crush Tania Bailey, the former junior world champion, but from leading 5-3 in the first game, Fitz-Gerald never lost another point, taking 22 points in succession to win 9-3, 9-0,9-0.

Bailey put together some good rallies and there were indications that she could stay with the Australian’s relentless pace. She certainly kept Fitz-Gerald out of the danger zone, short left, and so those lethal backhand drops did not contribute to the result until half-way through the third game, by which time Bailey was a step slower and feeling the effects of Sarah’s style, which England coach David Pearson described as ‘more like a guy.’

What has to be remembered is that Bailey was in a car accident 13 months ago and injured her knee, preventing her from training for eight months.

“Considering how horrible last year was, this year has been brilliant- getting to the British Open final without a full year’s training. I’ve played Sarah a lot before and at least today I felt I was in some of the rallies, but she still is very good and fast,” Bailey told Squashtalk. Fitz-Gerald was happy but talked more about the approaching Commonwealth Games, which takes place in this same venue in July. She will be playing singles, doubles with Liz Irving and mixed doubles with Paul Price.

When asked how many more Open titles she is going for she said, she didn’t know. “My aim has always been to quit at the top. I was going to finish after Melbourne but then I keep on postponing it. I’ll quit when I wake up in the morning and don’t want to train,” she said, and by the tone of her voice, that didn’t seem so far away. She too had a time off with injury, tearing a calf muscle in the final of the Hartford, Connecticut tournament when beating Carol Owens. “I had to sit with my leg up on a chair for five days, I couldn’t even walk. But it’s completely cured now and I only have phantom twinges,” she told reporters.

Pressed on whether she would defend her title next year, she shook her head and said she couldn’t say. My bet is she will, and, barring injuries, will once more be favourite to win. Bailey’s day will come within four years – she has that sort of talent and mental focus.

BRITISH OPEN RESULT WOMEN’S FINAL [view complete women's draw]
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) beat Tania Bailey (Eng) 9-3, 9-0, 9-0 (34 mins)