Perry downs Kippax but ankle twist forces her to quit Granite Open
Sarah-Jane Perry’s hopes of retaining her Granite Club Open title in Toronto, Canada, were dashed today by injury.
The third seed from Warwickshire rolled an ankle in her 3-1 victory over English rival Sarah Kippax last night and that has forced her out of her semi-final against top-seeded Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy, who also received a walkover in the quarter-finals when Denmark’s Line Hansen withdrew.
Perry, who had the ankle taped in the latter stages of her win over Kippax, tweeted: “Was pleased to be able to tough it out last night but unfortunately not going to be able to play tonight.”
The world number 16 will not have wanted to aggravate the injury, with the World Championship in Malaysia less than two weeks away.
It was a close-fought match which went the full distance that eventually took number four seed Amanda Sobhy into the semis at the expense of local star Samantha Cornett, the Canadian champion from Ottawa who twice led in the match.
“With a bit of bias, I would have to say that the second match of the night was the most exciting for the home crowd,” continued DiMauro. “Sam Cornett played ‘the best she has ever played’ to barely lose 11-9 in the fifth to Amanda.
“Sam took the first game convincingly, but Sobhy came to life in the second to even the score at one-all. The entire match went back and forth in the same fashion but Sobhy pulled it out in the end. Such great, physical squash.”
Sobhy was quick to express her delight via Twitter: “Holy moley. Won a nail biter 11-9 in da 5th against @CornettSamantha! I think we both killed ourselves the last point!”
The 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9 victory takes the 20-year-old US number one through to her third Tour meeting with Australian star Rachael Grinham, the 37-year-old former world number one and world champion.
Second seed Grinham showed that she still has what it takes when she saw off Welsh qualifier Tesni Evans 11-2, 11-7, 12-10.
“I don’t think any of the Granite spectators had ever seen a player quite like Rachael,” explained DiMauro. “‘How does she do that?’ was coming out of everyone’s mouths.
“She’s quick and crafty and fun to watch. Tesni is always a crowd-pleaser with her wise-cracks, smiles and of course, awesome squash. As much as Tez tried to weasel the ref, Rach was just too strong for her tonight.”
Quarter-Final Results:
[1] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [5] Line Hansen (DEN) w/o
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [8] Sarah Kippax (ENG) 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7
[4] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [WC] Samantha Cornett (CAN) 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Tesni Evans (WAL) 11-2, 11-7, 12-10
Semi-Final Draw:
[1] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [4] Amanda Sobhy (USA)