[WISPA DRAW/RESULTS]   [PSA DRAW/RESULTS]

Big win For Rachael......Gaultier Shows he's Back in top form .. Nicol David rolls... David Palmer falls to old foe Thierry Lincou...

Nicol David rolled past Tania Bailey into the British Open Finals.. (Fritz Borchert photo:© 2007)

Gregory Gaultier of France, the third seed, reached the final of the British Open Championship for the first time, when he defeated the top seeded World No1, Amr Shabana of Egypt 11-9 5-11 11-5 11-9 in a 61 minute semi-final today at SportCity in Manchester.

Then his compatriot, fourth seeded Thierry Lincou, defeated the second seeded World Champion, David Palmer of Australia, 5-11 11-8 11-4 11-7  in the 64 minute second men’s semi-final; reaching his second successive British Open Final and making it an all-French affair for the first time.

“I am here at last,” the 24-year-old from Aix-en-Provence. “It has taken a long time. But I am getting fit again after a difficult year and I have reached the final of the British open beating the World No1 to get there. Only winning the title can be better.”

Lincou’s reaction was more measured. “I am in better shape than for last year’s final, and I have played better and better as this tournament progressed. This is already a victory for France.  Tomorrow the best man will win.”

Gregory Gaultier (above in white) and Thierry Lincou (below in white) both score upset wins to reach the British Open Finals. (Fritz Borchert photo:© 2007)

He was probably also thinking that he defeated Gaultier over five games on this same court in an 87 minute English Grand Prix semi-final earlier this month, and last February he regained the French National Title in another five game encounter.

Overall the 31-year-old Paris based Franco-Chinese from Reunion Island has won nine of his dozen encounters with his younger compatriot. It was in December last year that Gaultier last triumphed.

For a game or so tonight it seemed Gaultier’s problem would be reversing the outcome he suffered after holding half-a-dozen match balls over Palmer in the World Open Final in Egypt last year.  The World Champion was little short of devastating in the opening game against Thierry, closing it powerfully 11-5 in just 12 minutes.

As the match progressed it became obvious that the Antwerp based Australian was looking for a swift conclusion to protect an injured rump suffered in his 100 minute quarter-final against James Willstrop. The Frenchman hit his rhythm in the second and began to spread the play around the court, denying Palmer the positioning from which to pound in his earlier winners. Between games Palmer received medical attention and in  the third game he was beginning to favour his left leg. At 4-7 he asked for a three minute injury break.

The British Open venue on Sunday. (Fritz Borchert photo:© 2007)

The referee was at first inclined to deny the request on the basis that there was no accident and he could not give time for an injury from yesterday. A short huddle ensued and it was decided Palmer was actually suffering a strained adductor muscle stemming from the earlier fall. The injury time was granted.

While Palmer’s movement deteriorated, Lincou zeroed in on an obvious opportunity, raising the pace of his rallying and striking the ball with even greater intent. At 7-7 Palmer virtually accused Lincou of wetting the ball before serving so that it would skid on the wall. The Frenchman blew long and hard on the ball as a show of derision, and he went on relentlessly punishing the injured man.

“I feel sorry for David. We have all been injured. Buut he will come back again and meanwhile it is me into the final with Gregory.”

There seemed little doubt of Gaultier’s victory from the start. The 28-year-old Cairo based top seed looked slightly sluggish. Only in the second game and at the end of the fourth did he display any of the aggression and confidence with which he removed the defending champion, Nick Matthew, from the previous round.

“I was just not sharp,” he admitted after the match. “Greg is a player who will chase the ball down and spread it about. I need to be at my sharpest to beat him, to make the winners that can cut him off. Today I was almost there but not quite.

“I played well in the second game and then coming back to 8-10 in the fourth after falling and jamming my hip on my racket. I really think if I had managed to push that fourth game all the way I could have won the fifth.”

It was a backhand cross court kill from Gaultier that surprised the re-enlivened Shabana and put paid to those hopes of another game. It was a shot that somehow represented the entire semi-final: elegant, crisp and played out of nowhere with complete confidence.

The young Frenchman was poised and prepared from the beginning. Playing inventive shots with total command but not a jot of over-embellishment. Where had had shouted and urged himself on constantly while beating Peter Barker in the previous round, here he just nodded in self-appreciation and glanced occasionally for approval from the delighted French group behind the court.

A glance at the record book suggests the confidence was well founded. Six times in nine meetings since July 2005 Gaultier has beaten Shabana; not least in the Super Series Finals on this same Manchester court  last month and in the World Open semi-finals in Cairo last year where the Egyptian was hoping to defend his World Open title in front of a baying home crowd.

Nicol Versus Rachael Again In the Women’s Final

An all-Australian women’s semi-final was played at the start of today’s programme, with Rachael Grinham, twice British Open Champion in previous years, emerging triumphant over her higher seeded younger sister, Natalie Grinham, the triple Comonwealth Games  Gold Medalist, 9-3 10-9 10-8  in 54 minutes.

Nobody knows the true count of matches between these two speedy little Queenslanders since they first started playing together as girls on the back courts of the Toowoomba Squash Club.

Rachael Grinham and Nicol David advance to tomorrow's final. (Fritz Borchert photo:© 2007)

On official records, though, the Cairo based 30-year-old Rachael now counts 10 wins from 16 meetings and returned to ascendancy in the recent Dutch Open, but the 29-year-old Amsterdam based Natalie has won four of their last six clashes.

Rachael was into her rhythm the faster on this occasion, taking the opening game in five hands over just nine minutes, but the rest of the match was an even battle between two players who understand each other s well they hardly bother with the referees, even when the calls are plainly wrong.

“There were a couple of calls that might have made me a bit vocal against another opponent, but wit n Natalie I just don’t bother,” Rachael explained after winning the 19 minute second game after two game balls apiece and the 12 minute third after twice standing game ball down at 7-8.

The second women’s semi-final was pretty much a procession for the top seeded defending champion, Nicol David of Malaysia, also seeking a third British Open title, against the fourth seeded England No1, Tania Bailey.

David won 9-1 10-8 9-3 in 41 minutes, taking off like a little express train in the opening game and playing with an aggressive precision that left Bailey groping for a grip even on the second game.

It was not until David took her foot off the pedal slightly at 7-0 in that second game that Bailey managed even to serve into more that one rally at a time. To her credit the fourth seed played the next three hands with real intent skill, driving from 0-7 to 4-7 in one hand and from 4-8 to 8-8 in another. But two errors, one out of court and one into the tin, put paid to the tiebreak and David sailed through the third game to clinch matters on her first match ball.

Rachael Grinham has to reach all the way back to a semi-final of the Qatar Airways Challenge in April 2005 for her last win over David, and that was 10-8 ijn the fifth after 71 minutes. She can claim only six wins from their career list of 22 clashes since they first met in April 2000.

BRITISH OPEN, MANCHESTER UK, RESULTS
Men's semi-finals:
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) def [1] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-9 5-11 11-5 11-9
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) def [2] David Palmer (AUS) 5-11 11-8 11-4 11-7

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) def [4] Tania Bailey (ENG) 9-1 10-8 9-3
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) def [2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-3 10-9 10-8