Grainger, Looking Confident, Overwhelms Jackman
Moves on to the Finals
© 2004 Ron Beck, Exclusive to Squashtalk, all rights of reproduction reserved.
November 5, 2004

Natalie Grainger dominated Cassie Jackman , photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert

USA based Natalie Grainger, with new coach Brian O'Hora in her corner, came out strong, moving Cassie Jackman up front early and often, overwhelming the English star in four games.

Grainger, looking happy and upbeat after her victory which quieted Albert Hall, talked frankly about her time off from the tour, which was according to her a complete 2 1/2 month rest from squash to allow physical and emotional scars to heal.

Cassie Jackman, by contrast, who was coming off a ceremony yesterday in which Prince Philip award here the coveted British MBE, looked somewhat stale and stiff. She committed countless unforced errors and seemed to have difficult moving, especially when Grainger forced her to change sides of the court.

Grainger, looking confident and at ease from the start, clearly had a strategy from the outset to move Jackman to the front of the court whenever possible.

Though Jackman was able to counterattack in the front, especially on the forehand side where she scored a number of counterattacking winners down the line, the front court strategy played havoc with Jackman's accuracy and focus.

Natalie Grainger effectively forced Jackman to move side-to-side, photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert

Grainger combined the play up front with some devastating volleys off of Jackman's attempts at length, especially on the cross court. Grainger set up a number of winning points with hard volleys alternating with short volleys, and then finished off with strong, winning length shots. It was a comprehensive strategy which kept Jackman on the defensive.

How to explain game three, then, which Jackman won 9-1 ? In game three, Cassie applied some front court magic of her own, suddenly bringing her game into focus and cutting down the errors. In response, Grainger abandoned her short court game, and she wasn't going to beat Jackman simply on a length game.

Between the 3rd and 4th, O'Hora reminded Grainger to get back to moving Jackman up to the front court, and a series of attacking boasts left Jackman swinging at air on several successive points at the beginning of the 4th game. When Grainger hit a characteristic North-American reverse corner (has she been playing hardball in DC?) for a winner at 2-0 in the fourth, the heart was out of Jackman's attack, and the rest became a formality. A great win for Natalie Grainger in only her third tournament back from a 8-month competitive hiatus.

Women's Draw

Semi Finals in Progress:

Men's Semi finals:
[3] David Palmer (AUS) def [1] Lee Beachill (ENG) 11-8 6-11 10-11(2-0) 11-4 11-9

Women's semi finals:
[4] Natalie Grainger (USA) def [2] Cassie Jackman (ENG) 9-1 9-6 1-9 9-3
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) def [3] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 9-7 9-1 9-10 6-9 2-9

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