SquashTalk>Women's World Open >Womens World Finals Detailed version- by Martin Bronstein

[last update was 19-nov-00 ]

Owens in great comeback win!

11.18.00 by Martin Bronstein

Eye Group Women's World Open Squash Championship, Meadowbrook Center, Edinburgh, Scotland

Report and Analysis

CAROL OWENS WINS SENSATION FINAL TO BECOME NEW WORLD CHAMPION

WHO WROTE THIS SCRIPT? Would you, or any one of sound mind, write a fictional story where the two semifinals and the final of a tournament had dramatic comebacks from the edge of defeat? Naah, it would never sell. Who'd believe it? After yesterday's semi-finals with Sarah Fitz- Gerald and Natalie Grainger both coming back from 2/0 and Grainger from 8-2 in the third, what were the odds of it happening in the final? Well, my friends, it did happen again and I saw it with my own eyes and my mouth is still dry from staying open so long.

ALRIGHT, NOT QUITE THE SAME.
The difference was that in the final, the comebacker won whereas Sarah and Natalie both lost nailbiters of a fifth game. The final, (an 'All Black'affair because both Leilani Joyce and Carol Owens live in New Zealand), started with a pretty close first game won by Joyce. Owens looked confident and totally concentrated as she flighted the ball with accuracy to keep Joyce moving, but Joyce was hitting beautiful winners - drops from the back of the court as well as winning the dropping duels at the front.

NO TIME TO TAKE A HOLIDAY
In the second game, a completely different Owens was smothered 9-3 in five minutes. Any loose play and Joyce simply put it away and she scooped up that game to give her a two game lead. When Owens was asked what happened to her in this game she said dreamily: "Oh I went on holiday, I was in the Bahamas, ….." She is a funny lady. But it wasn't funny for her at the time and it was even less funny at the start of the third as Joyce cracked in three winners and raced to a 7-0 lead.

Two points from the world title. Impossible to lose, no? Wrooong! Owens hit a forehand drop to get the service and an impatient Joyce tried smack Owen's serve into the nick, and hit tin. Probably the costliest shot of her life. Owens said later: "I thought I was going to lose so I might as well relax and play as though I had nothing to lose."

TWO MATCH BALLS BUT NO CIGAR
She suddenly started to play as she had played in the first game: control, patience, accuracy and a killer shot at the very, very right time. She got back to 7-4, lost the serve and a point to two Joyce drops and faced match point at 4-8. Cool as ever she got the serve back with a tight forehand drop that Joyce could not scrape up. Owens won the next point on a perfect backhand volley drop and then two more points from Joyce errors. It was a third drop that gave Joyce the chance to serve her second match ball.

Owens had Joyce running the diagonals with exceptional control and finally killed the ball to save that match ball. Then, with the help of two more Joyce errors and her own forehand drop she won the game 10-8. You could feel every spectator start to breath again. This was just wonderful stuff and for most of the time the crowd were silent with tension.

OWENS IN CONTROL
With her confidence back, Owens took control. She played as though she had learnt a shot by shot script; it was truly squash and skill of the very highest order. Joyce was by no means outplayed but there was always the feeling that Owens knew her playbook and could only be beaten by outright winners. Owens won 9-6 and the psychological damage had been done. Joyce has not been on top form all week but she is good enough to beat most players at 80% capacity, but on this day, she could not summon up that extra 20 percent and Owens continued her ruthless rule to run through the final game 9-1 in just nine minutes to score what must surely be the biggest win of her life.

IT STARTED YOUNG
"I used to do that as a junior, get two down and just relax and it all comes back," she said at her press conference." After her 'holiday' joke she tried to explain why she lost the second game. "I just lost my confidence and I felt that she dictated all the play and I was hanging back in the corners, letting the balls come to me rather than go out to them. I relaxed at 0-7 down and put the ball in the air and got more aggressive. In the fourth and fifth I felt that everything was coming off my racket just nicely. And because she was making errors I got more confident."

RESULT OF FINAL
Carol Owens (aus) bt Leilani joyce (NZ) 7-9, 3-9, 10-8, 9-6 9-1.

For the latest results go to www.squashtalk.com/womensworld

Carol Owens, shown here in her semifinal win over Fitz-Gerald, put together a great complete tournament winning the World Open for Australia. (Photo © 2000 Fritz Borchert)

Leilani fell short against Carol Owens after several successive wins against her. (Fritz Borchert photo for Squashtalk © 2000)

Carol Owens World Champion (photo Fritz Borchert)

RESULTS: Eye Group Women's World Open Squash Championship, Edinburgh, Scotland

Semifinals:

Leilani Joyce beat Natalie Grainger 9-6, 9-3, 9-10, 4-9, 9-5
Carol Owens beat Sarah Fitz-Gerald 9-6, 9-5, 7-9, 5-9, 9-6

Quarterfinals Wednesday:

Natalie Grianger (eng) bt Stephanie Brind( Eng) 9-2, 9-5, 9-3. Carol Owens (Aus) bt Tania Bailey (Eng) 9-2, 9-5, 9-3
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) def Linda Charman (Eng) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1

Round of 16 results:
Carol Owens (Aus) bt Vicky Botwritght (Eng) 9-3, 9-0, 9-2.
Tania Bailey (Eng) bt Sabine Schoene (Ger) 9-2, 10-9, 9-7.
Linda Charman (Eng) bt Pamela Nimmo(Sco) 9-5e, 9-2, 9-2.
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) bt Jenny Tranfield (Eng) 9-0, 9-1, 9-2.
Stephaine Brind (Eng) bt Fiona Geaves (Eng) 9-0, 3-9, 8-10, 9-2, 9-2
Natalie Grainger (Eng) bt Rachel Grinham (Aus) 9-6, 3-9, 9-7, 9-7
Suzanne Horner (Eng) bt Rebecca Macree (Eng) 9-2, 9-3, 10-8
Leilani Joyce (NZ) bt Vanessa Atkinson (NL) 9-2, 5-9, 9-5, 9-5

3rd round:
[2] Carol Owens (AUS) bt Janie Thacker (ENG) 9-0 9-1 9-4
Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [14] Claire Nitch (RSA) 9-3 9-6 9-1
[5] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt Senga Macfie (SCO) 9-6 1-9 9-3 9-6
[12] Sabine Schoene (GER) bt Annelize Naude (RSA) 10-8 9-4 9-7
[4] Linda Charman (ENG) bt Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 9-1 9-4 9-6
[16] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 7-9 9-4 9-4 10-8
[7] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) bt Liz Irving (AUS) 9-3 9-0 9-3
[15] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) bt Elin Blikra (NOR) 9-4 9-0 9-2
[10] Stephanie Brind (ENG) bt Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-5 9-0 9-4
[8] Fiona Geaves (ENG) bt Madeline Perry (IRL) 9-1 10-8 9-0
[11] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Salma Shabana (EGY) 9-4 9-0 9-1
[3] Natalie Grainger (ENG) bt Ellen Petersen (DEN) 10-8 9-7 1-9 9-0
[13] Rebecca Macree (ENG) bt Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 9-4 9-2 9-7
[6] Suzanne Horner (ENG) bt Maha Zein (EGY) 9-4 9-5 9-2
[9] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Latasha Khan (USA) 9-1 9-2 9-3
[1] Leilani Joyce (NZL) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 9-2 9-5 9-1