Grinham reaches semis as brave Brown bows out

28-Aug-2010 - Squash Australia

Rachael Grinham is the last remaining Australian in the Hong Kong Open squash tournament after she beat Ireland’s Madeline Perry in straight games in the quarter-finals and Kasey Brown just failed to upset second seeded Englishwoman Jenny Duncalf in a five game classic.
Grinham was back to her crafty best as she ran recently crowed Australian Open champion Perry ragged with a seemingly endless series of drops and lobs, moving the Irishwoman from the front to the back of the court.
After two tiebreak games Perry finally cracked in the third and Grinham pulled away to win 12-10, 14-12, 11-5 and set up a semi-final against top seeded Malaysian Nicol David.
Earlier Brown had gone close to a major shock when she pushed the world number two over five tight games, Duncalf eventually winning 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8.
But Brown’s efforts in Hong Kong show she is close to breaking through for a major win.
“That's the best Kasey's ever played against me,” Duncalf admitted.
Brown was disappointed but said she did everything she could.
“I thought I played well, but so did Jenny and in the end I just couldn’t get there,” Brown said.
In the men’s quarter-finals, Australian Open champion Nick Matthew suffered an upset loss to fellow Englishman Peter Barker 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5.

Quarter-final results – prefix denotes seeding:

Men

8-Peter Barker (ENG) bt 1-Nick Matthew (ENG) 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5
5-Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt 3-Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8
4-Karim Darwish (EGY) bt 7-Thierry Lincou (FRA) 11-9, 11-3, 11-9
2-Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt 6-James Willstrop (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-9

Women

1-Nicol David (MAS) bt 7-Laura Massaro (ENG) 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4
3-Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt 6-Madeline Perry (IRL) 12-10, 14-12, 11-5
4-Alison Waters (ENG) bt 5-Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 9-11, 11-1, 14-12, 11-6
2-Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt 8-Kasey Brown (AUS) 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8