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Finals
Carol
Owens repels Natalie Pohrer Challenge in final
By Dallas Squash Racquets Association Press © 2003 SquashTalk; all
rights of reproduction reserved.
March 30, 2003
[Full draw]
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| Carol
Owens confirms #1 status as she stops #2 Natalie Pohrer in Dallas ©2003 Debra Tessier |
A large and enthusiastic gallery of squash enthusiasts from Texas cities and beyond saw the third leg of the battle for supremacy of the current world number one and two on the WISPA Court at the Texas Open at Dallas TX.
Natalie Pohrer had beaten Carol Owens in a pulsating World Open semifinal last fall, finally winning 10/8 in the deciding game. When they next met last month in the final of the Arader & O'Rourke Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Station in New York the match also took five games to find a winner. This time it was Owens who came out on top.
Here Pohrer came out of the blocks fastest, racing to an eight two lead first game before Owens began to settle. Her volleying became more fluent and drops more dangerous and she began to eat into the lead. Eventually the lead was gone and eight all reached, Owens having saved six game balls. Another was saved at 8/9 before two tinned boasts took the New Zealander to her first game ball. This was saved and another attacking boast, this time won, gave Pohrer the game after 27 minutes instead of the nine minutes at which she first served for it.
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Texas Open Video interview |
The second game started in similar fashion to the first, but this time it was the New Zealander who rapidly progressed to 8/0, but although she dropped one point Pohrer was unable to stage a comeback and Owens closed at 9/1 to level the match.
Both players were now employing a combination of attacking boasts and higher floating balls, but Pohrer could only win rallies rather than points as she didn't have enough patience and Owens score climbed. The Auckland based defending champion got to game ball at 8/1 before Pohrer staged a mini revival created by Pohrer forging openings at the front and putting away volleys. But a tinned one at 4/8 allowed Owens to move two games to one ahead.
St. Louis based Pohrer was still finding it difficult to deal with the athleticism, resolution and accurate placement of Owens despite the vocal support of the crowd. Pohrer had finally reached meltdown. Owens reached match ball and though denied the first time by a deft cross court drop took it second time with a traffic stroke to hold onto her title and reinforce her hold on top spot in the WISPA World rankings.
Owens was especially pleased, saying "I don't think that I have had back to back wins before so I am pretty happy. I've had a great week - it has been superbly staged and we have been so well looked after."
Meanwhile Natalie reflected "The first game was tough but I was a little too sluggish, my length a little too short, my lobs too low. What a melon!"
Final Results:
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) beat [2] Natalie Pohrer (USA) 9-10, 9-1, 9-4, 9-1
(47 min)
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