(updated 2-feb-10 16:56 )  

Seeds Keep Falling in Cleveland  [Draw and Results]

Waters beats King. photo © 2010 Ham Biggar.

Once again seeds fell on quarter finals day of the 2010 PNC Burning River Classic, at the Cleveland Racquet Club. First on court were Raneem El Weleily and Kasey Brown. Kasey had survived a severe test and a couple of match balls during her first round, but was unable to produce the same miraculous comeback when faced with a 2-1 game deficit today.

Raneem had been quoted the previous night saying that she never knew which player was going to turn up; the good Raneem or the bad one. Well it was the later that started the match with Kasey taking full advantage winning 11-2. Good Raneem didn’t stay dormant for long though as she controlled the second game from start to finish.  The third game was a much closer affair with both players refusing to give. At 10-10 they played the longest rally of the match and Kasey was left guessing, going helplessly the wrong way from a drive from the front corner. It looked like her tank was empty as she failed to defend the game ball with much conviction. Kasey tried to stay with Raneem in the fourth but was always trailing by a couple of points. This was her third top ten victory in two weeks and she may be reaching a point of consistency.

The second match was expected to include a little flair from each player and the crowd was not disappointed as both Omneya Abdel Kawy and Isabelle Stoehr produce a multitude of winners between them. Isabelle found the tin just a little too frequently to mount a serious attack on the first two games despite coming back from 9-1 down in the second to make the game somewhat competitive. The third was a different story though as Isabelle clearly showed her desire to win getting both herself and the crowd motivated. Unfortunately for Isabelle the momentum was not to last as Omneya reeled of some deceptive winners from not the most obvious of attacking opportunities. Omneya’s victory sets up an all Egyptian semi final, a repeat of last week’s event in Greenwich where Omneya won in 5 close games.

Madeline Perry had not played to the top of her game in the first round and she started off in her quarter final in the same vain. Madeline never really looked settled on the court despite moments of quality, and Samantha took full advantage. The first went to the Mexican 11-2, but at 7-5 to Madeline in the second, it looked as though the number three seed was finally going to get going. It was not to be though as the tenacity of movement and the lack of errors gave Samantha a well deserved victory on the night.

Qualifier Joelle King found Alison Waters just a little too tough in the last quarter final of the night. She had played some great squash to reach this stage, but Alison was able to move the tall New Zealander around the court with ease. Alison showed why she won in Greenwich last week, by moving effortlessly around the court and playing shots with great precision. Her control to the front was the big difference between the two players. There was some drama during the game though when the clubs fire alarm sounded at 6-2 in the second. The players had to take a 20 minute time out while the fire brigade fixed the problem, thankfully a false alarm! Alison’s straight game victory sets up an encounter with Samantha Teran, a player she has only lost one game to in their last 6 meetings. Samantha has looked good so far on the courts in Cleveland though so this could be a close one.

RESULTS:         PNG Cleveland Squash Open, Cleveland Racquet Club, Cleveland Ohio, USA

QUARTERS:
[1] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [Q] Joelle King (NZL) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5
[7] Samantha Teran (MEX) bt [3] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-2, 11-8, 11-8
Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt [5] Kasey Brown (AUS) 2-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-8
[2] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [8] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5