[Madeline Perry laid low] also [USA 9/16 quarters report]

Tania Bailey struggled to earn England a point against Shelley Kitchen. Photo © 2006 Kyle Clapham

England (1), Egypt (2), Malaysia (3), and Netherlands (4) have all advanced to the Semi Finals of the LEXUS of Edmonton Women’s World Team SQUASH Championship by similar 3-0 scores. 

No. 1 England defeated No. 6 New Zealand, however not in an easy fashion.  In a long 59-minute match, Tania Bailey came back from a 0-1 game deficit, maintained the lead in the second game, winning 9-7, and then closing out the last 2 games, 9-4, 9-2.  Vicky Botwright  took 31 minutes to win her match 3-0 over Jaclyn Hawkes of Ireland giving England the overall victory.

The No. 1 seed from Egypt, Omneya Abdel Kawy, also had trouble with her opponent Tenille Swartz of South Africa as Swartz took the first game 9-7, and continued to force Kawy to make some errors well into the second game.  But Kawy prevailed and won in extra points 10-8, and then settled down to take the 3rd and 4th games 9-4, 9-0.   Engy Kheirallah kept a fast pace throughout her match against Diana Argyle and won easily 3-0 to give No. 2 seed Egypt a place in the Semi Finals.

El Weleily wins against van der Westhuisen. Photo © 2006 Kyle Clapham

No. 3 seed Malaysia won easily over France, as France was missing their No. 1 player, Isabelle Stoehr due to a foot injury.  Nicol David showed her true form as World No. 1 as they dominated the T and moved Camille Serme around the court for her to make several errors into the tin, as David won 3-0.  Sharon Wee was too strong for Celia Allamargot  as she won 3-0 in 24 minutes.

Vanessa Atkinson, No. 1 seed of Netherlands lost her second game 8-10 to Aisling Blake of Ireland, but then settled down without losing a point to take the final two games.  Her partner, No.2 seed, Annelize Naude took the Netherlands team to the Semi Final with her 3-0 victory over Laura Mylotte.

CANADA, relegated to the playoff for the 9-16 positions after losing to France in the Round Robin, showed some nervousness against the inspired 13th seeded team from Germany.  Runa Reta (from Ottawa) started Canada in the right direction with a convincing 3-0 win over Daniella Schumann.  However, the next match between the second seeds was a cliffhanger.  Germany’s Katharina Witt prevailed over Melanie Jans (from Vancouver) 3-1 with a series of effective winning boasts and drops.  The third and deciding match went to a 5-game of a 67-minute cliffhanger for the predominant supporting Canadian crowd.  No. 3 seed, Kathrin Rohrmuller of Gernmany won the first game 9-7 over Carolyn Russell (from Vancouver).  But Russell came back to win the second and third games 9-3,9-4. In the fourth game neither player wanted to play winners, rallies were long, but more errors by Russell enabled Rohrmuller to win 9-6.  Rohrmuller rolled to a quick 4-0 lead, then extended it to 7-0 before Russell got 4 points in a row to bring it to 4-7.  Surviving one match point, Russell succumbed to Rohrmuller 9-4 when she hit a winning shot down the wall.  Germany nows plays former World Team Champions, Australia in the semi final for 9-12 positions, while Team Canada will now be playing for 13-16 positions.

To see the full draws - click through here.

Partial Quarter-final Results:
[1] ENGLAND bt [6] NEW ZEALAND 3-0
Tania Bailey bt Shelley Kitchen 6-9, 9-7, 9-4, 9-2 (59m)
Vicky Botwright bt Jaclyn Hawkes 9-2, 9-4, 9-3 (31m)
Jenny Duncalf bt Louise Crome 9-0, 9-0 (12m)
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [9] IRELAND 3-0
Vanessa Atkinson bt Aisling Blake 9-1, 8-10, 9-0, 9-0 (30m)
Annelize Naude bt Laura Mylotte 9-5, 9-1, 9-7 (30m)
Orla Noom bt Eleanor Lapthorne 9-6, 9-3 (20m)
[3] MALAYSIA Beat [10] FRANCE 3-0
Nicol David  Beat  Camille Serme  3-0 (9-3,9-1,9-1)  24m
Sharon Wee  Beat  Celia Allamargot  3-0 (9-1,9-2,9-0) 24m
Tricia Chuah  Beat  Soraya Renai  2-0 (9-6-9-0)  16m

[2] EGYPT Beat [12] SOUTH AFRICA 3-0
Omneya Abdel Kawy  Beat Tenille Swartz  3-1 (7-9,10-8,9-4,9-0) 45m
Engy Kheirallah  Beat  Diana Argyle 3-0 (9-1,9-3,9-1) 26m
Raneem El Weleily Beat Karen van der Westhuizen 2-0 (9-4,9-4) 15m

9th to 16th Place Play-offs:
[8] HONG KONG Beat  [14] JAPAN 3-0
Rebecca Chiu  Beat  Mami Nishio  3-0 (9-2,9-1,9-4)  27m
Christina Mak  Beat  Sachiko Shinta  3-1 (9-3,7-9,9-5,9-5) 61m
Annie Au  Beat  Kozue Onizawa  2-0 (9-0,9-1) 14m

 [11] USA Beat [15] SPAIN 3-0
Latasha Khan Beat Elizabet Sado 3-0 (10-8, 9-6,9-6) 27m
Louisa Hall Beat Margaux Moros 3-0 (9-2,9-0,9-2) 18m
Ivy Pochoda Beat Laura Alonso 2-0 (10-8,9-3) 18m

[5] AUSTRALIA Beat [16] AUSTRIA 3-0
Kasey Brown  Beat  Pamela Pancis  3-0 (9-1,9-1,9-1) 26m
Amelia Pittock  Beat  Birgit Coufal  3-0 (9-2,9-2,9-3)  24m
Dianne Desira  Beat  Kornelia Hofer  2-0 (9-2,9-0) 12m

[7] CANADA Lost to [13] GERMANY 1-2
Runa Reta Beat Daniela Schumann  3-0 (9-2,9-0,9-5)  25m
Melanie Jans Lost to Katharina Witt  1-3 (4-9,9-5,5-9,3-9)  44m
Carolyn Russell Lost to Kathrin Rohrmuller 2-3 (7-9,9-3,9-4,6-9,4-9) 67m