[Main Draw]

GRAINGER TOO SMOOTH FOR BRIGGS

Raneem el Weleily into the Los Angeles finals. (photo © SquashTalk archives )

Top seed Natalie Grainger and third seed Raneem El Weleily both earned straight-set wins this afternoon in the semifinal round of the Epstein Becker & Green Los Angeles Open, a $ 23,000 WISPA tournament hosted by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Grainger, who has now posted a 9-0 score and a 9-1 in each of her trio of 3-0 pre-final matches, overwhelmed fourth seed Lauren Briggs 9-1, 0 and 6, while the young Egyptian El Weleily, who has dropped only one game (that being in her quarterfinal against Joshna Chinappa Friday afternoon) solidly out-played Manuela Manetta 9-4, 5 and 3.

The latter had notched the biggest upset of the weekend a round earlier when she surprised second seed Samantha Teran, 9-7 in the fourth, but that grueling reversal of their prior ’07 encounter four months ago in Dayton left her with little in reserve to combat the smooth shot-making that the teenager El Weleily threw against her today. Briggs, on the other hand, had emerged from her unexpectedly severe 3-0 quarterfinal over Latasha Khan in fine fashion physically, but Grainger, who at No. 5 is the only player in this tournament ranked in the WISPA top-20, had much too much firepower to be denied.

Egyptian El Weleily, the 18-year-old world junior champion from Alexandria, is now in her third Tour final - but yet to see her name inscribed on a trophy - while Grainger, the 29-year-old former world number one from Washington DC in the US, is celebrating her 30th appearance in a Tour final, and already has 13 titles to her name.

Grainger is certainly a strong favorite to prevail in tomorrow’s final against her gifted but relatively unseasoned opponent, who is just starting out on the women’s professional circuit. But El Weleily has answered every challenge she has faced so far in her young and promising career, and seems capable of posing a strong challenge against her veteran foe, provided she is on top of her game right from the start.

SEMI FINAL RESULTS: [MAIN DRAW]
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) d [4] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 9-1 9-0 9-2
[3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) d [6] Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-4 9-5 9-3