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As she had done a mere 20 hours earlier in her rousing 9-6 fifth-game semifinal win (from 2-0, 4-0 down and after trailing 6-4 in the fifth) over Engy Kheirallah, top seed Rachael Grinham determinedly dug herself out of a 1-0, 6-0 hole Sunday afternoon against second seed Natalie Grainger, whom Grinham eventually and thrillingly out-lasted 6-9 9-6 9-1 1-9 9-4 in the final round of the Carol Weymuller Open at the Heights Casino Annex before a packed gallery of appreciative Casino members.

Grinham, frustrated in her four prior 2006 trips to the finals (including the recent British Open), thereby made good in her fifth try, earning her first Weymuller title in the process and preventing Grainger from repeating her march two years ago to this championship. The match also marked the fourth consecutive round that featured a riveting five-game conversation-piece: qualifier rallied from 1-2 in the round of 16 to overtake U. S. national champion Latasha Khan; Kheirallah eked out a 9-7 fifth-game quarterfinal win over Lauren Briggs before, as noted, falling just short one round later against Grinham.

WILD MOMENTUM SWINGS
As should be clear from the foregoing, this match between two former world No. 1's contained wild swings in momentum, at least on the scoreboard, which however fails to accurately convey either how many hands-out there were even in the midst of long scoring runs or how subtle the kick-offs to the various surges were. A stray tin or a seemingly innocuous regaining of the serve was sometimes enough to presage a major swing in the score, and when the tally stood at 4-all in the fifth slightly more than an hour after play began, the two protagonists had battled each other to an absolute statistical and territorial standstill.

It hardly appeared that this would be the case during the initial game and a half, as Grainger solidly imposed the considerable weaponry in her arsenal, especially in embarking of a nine-point run from 6-all in the first game to 9-6, 6-0. She was battering her scrambling, beleaguered opponent with severe ground strokes and scoring with tin-defying volley and half-volley drop shots.
Grinham, whose fitness edge has enabled her to weather early deficits against a fast-starting Grainger in the past, did not panic, instead resorting to a tactic that had served her so well Friday night against Kheirallah, namely slowing down the pace with moonball parabolic lobs that disrupted her opponent's rhythm and produced loose responses and tins.

After several-hands out at 1-6, Grinham took advantage of some unforced Grainger errors and a few of her own winners to run that game out in a single hand, then maintained a strangle hold on the initiative she had seized by racing through the 9-1 third as well. By this time, Grinham had achieved the optimum balance between being patient and attacking the front and her amazing retrieving was evoking gasps from the gallery and provoking tins from Grainger.

But it only took a few early fourth-game Grinham errors for the momentum to completely reverse itself, as Grainger saw and grabbed the opening, regained her temporarily misplaced confidence and accuracy and mirrored the score line of the prior game with a 9-1 win of her own.

NO MARGIN FOR ERROR
The fifth was the only game in which neither player was able to spurt out to an early lead. At this stage, of course, both players realized that there was no margin for error and they fought intensely to 4-all. Incredibly, Grinham was still moving as well as she had been at any point in the match, while Grainger had slowed down just a little bit, just enough to enable Grinham to painstakingly wrest control of the exchanges. Even then it wasn't easy, as there were some hands-out and high-quality rallies, but Grinham for the second consecutive match inexorably forged a 5-0 match-ending run that sealed her hard-earned victory.

As if their harshly grueling effort hadn't been enough, both women almost immediately had to leave for Kennedy Airport, where they and most of the rest of the Weymuller draw were booked on a 17-hour flight later that evening to Hong Kong, where a major WISPA event will begin in just a few days. Many of the top-tier WISPA women, including all eight 2005 Weymuller quarterfinalists, opted to pass on this year's Weymuller event to prepare for and travel to Hong Kong in more leisurely fashion, and it will be interesting to see which of these two strongly different choices serves the respective Hong Kong participants the best.

Carol Weymuller Open, Heights Casino, Brooklyn New York
SEMIFINAL ROUND RESULTS:

[1] Rachael Grinham (ENG) d [2] Natalie Grainger (USA) 6-9 9-6 9-1 1-9 9-4 (70m)