WSA: Grinham sisters to clash in New York

From MATT WAGG
Family rivalry will take over when Natalie and Rachael Grinham face each other in the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions semi-finals later today.

Older sister Rachael, seeded fifth for the event, dispatched qualifier Joshana Chinappa after coming from a game down to progress to the next round of the WSA Tour Silver 25 event, held at Grand Central Station in New York City.  Chinappa had shocked crowds by defeating her compatriot and second seed Dipika Pallikal in round one, but was unable to sustain her good form to another upset.

Seeded just one place higher than her sibling, Natalie Grinham saw a tricky first round tie against Egyptian Nour El Tayeb.  The Dutch international won a close encounter in five-games, before also coming from a game behind to defeat No.8 seed Sarah Kippax of England.

Tournament favourite Madeline Perry has been untroubled so far in the event, beating home interest Latasha Khanin three-games, before seeing off the challenge of No.7 seed Joey Chan of Hong Kong in last night’s quarter-finals.  The experienced Irishwoman will now face third seed Kasey Brown who was forced to two tiebreak games by local hope Amanda Sobhy yesterday.  Brown narrowly made it through the first round of the event after coming from two games down against qualifier Heba El Torky, to win in 62-minutes.

The matches will air live on http://www.psasquashtv.com later today, either side of the PSA semi-finals, with play commencing from 18.00 local time (11pm GMT).

 

Semi-finals:

18.00 – [1] Madeline Perry (IRL) v [3] Kasey Brown (AUS)

21.00 – [5] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [4] Natalie Grinham (NED)

 

Quarter-finals:

[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [7] Joey Chan (HKG)            11-9, 11-2, 11-5 (28m)

[3] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA)       11-8, 15-13, 12-10 (51m)

[4] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [8] Sarah Kippax (ENG)   10-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 (43m)

[5] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND)       8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8 (46m)

 

1st round:

[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt Latasha Khan (USA) 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 (27m)

[7] Joey Chan (HKG) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG)       12-10, 11-8, 11-6 (31m)

[3] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [Q] Heba El Torky (EGY)        9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (62m)

[6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt Delia Arnold (MAS)  11-9, 11-5, 11-8 (28m)

[8] Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt [Q] Samantha Cornett (CAN)            11-9, 11-5, 11-8

[4] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt Nour El Tayeb (EGY)        9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4 (49m)

[5] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL)      13-11, 11-4, 11-5 (26m)

[Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND) bt [2] Dipika Pallikal (IND)            11-7, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8 (43m)