SquashTalk>Women's World Open >Womens World third round - Bronstein

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Third round: Martin's commentary

11.13.00 by Martin Bronstein

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

MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY EDINBURGH MONDAY NOVEMBER 13 2000

HOW GOOD IS EXCELLENT?
The venue here is good, very good. Eight courts, six of them with walls plastered in delicate pastel shades as befits a female event (sexism is not dead!). It is in fact the Scottish National Squash Center and also the Center of Excellence, a term they use on this side of the pond to denote a gathering of the elite players.

But aren't you inviting disaster and disdain by the use of the world excellence? This is not cynicism but realism. Nevertheless with facilities like this and with coaches coming out of the woodwork, the results must come and squash standards will improve. Excellence? Hopefully.

JOYCE THE CHOICE
The sad fact is that as soon as Cassie Campion pulled out to have an operation on her lower spine, most of the drama and guessing went out of the window. It is almost certain that the quarter finals will feature the top four seeds with the only uncertainty coming from Sarah Fitz-Gerald. She could well win it if her head is together and she can stop worrying about the knee. But Leilani Joyce looks unbeatable; Carol Owens looked good and Natalie Grainger looked shaky but could improve quickly.

A FAMILY AFFAIR
Grainger may have been a little nervous because her mother Jean, a former British Squash champion who moved to South Africa 20 years ago, flew over to watch her daughter play.

That's not all. Grainger, now engaged to an American from St. Louis and living in the States, had her future mother-in-law watching her too. Imagine the kicking she'd have got if she'd lost to Ellen Petersen of Denmark. Would her mother-in-law have called off the wedding? We'll never know because Grainger won in four despite never finding a decent length and hitting a lot of tin with her intended volley winner's.

She played some wonderful stuff, moving the ball around until she gradually worked Petersen out of position and when she went for the kill, she hit tin. It showed what she was capable of and by all accounts the results should have been a foregone conclusion, but with so many errors, you don't know what's going to happen.

THE COMEBACK KID
Grainger did not lose her head as she did against Fitz-Gerald in the British Open. She skave match ball in the first to win 10-8 and then came back from 2-6 to win the second to win 9-7. She then lost her way completely- no length, loose balls and errors which Petersen accepted and put the game away 9-1. Grainger has seen he ranking drop from 4 to 7 so she came back for the fourth reminding herself she was the third seed and simply dominated play to win 9-0. If she can play like that from the first ball, she may be able to upset the apple car.

NOT A LOT OF EXCITEMENT
Like all first rounds, there wasn't too much to get your britches in a bundle; Fitz-Gerald beat Liz Irving comfortably and Joyce beat the great Egyptian hope Omneya Abdel Kawy in three but not before Kawy showed why she is so far ahead of the other world juniors. At 15 she is the youngest player to appear in a first round of the Open and could easily eclipse all those that have gone before her.

Tania Bailey looked mediocre against the incredible Senga Mcfie, the fastest woman in the world from a standing start and one of the most entertainng players around. Her overhead control is quite superb and she has a fine squash brain that at time seems a little bit scrambled - probably from the number of times she hits herself on the head with the racket in frustration.

Sabine Schoene from Germany looked very good indeed. It would be nice if she played to her full potential all the time; she would give every player on the circuit real problems.

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

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

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