Waters Wins Third Successive Title After Irish Upset
The Englishwoman won the Atwater Cup and Granite Club Open titles in March following a year-long injury layoff, and continued to prove that she wants her top five ranking spot back.
Having eased the qualifying rounds, Waters dispatched Line Hansen of Denmark in the first round, before playing her longest match of the tournament against a resilient Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt.
She then turned against her fellow England teammate Laura Massaro in the semi finals, beating the number two seed in straight games and progressing to the final to face home favourite and former Irish Open winner Madeline Perry.
World No4 Perry faced little resistance in reaching the final in front of a home crowd, and the Irish international was yet to drop a game after straight wins against Egyptians Heba El Torky andNour El Sherbini, as well as Jaclyn Hawkes of New Zealand.
The experienced Irishwoman was allowed no time to settle in the final however, as Waters quickly established leads in the first two games and looked comfortable. The third game was much more of a contest and the pair were forced to a tiebreak at 10-all, but Waters proved too strong on the day and played out a 3-0 win in a repeat of the 2009 Irish Open final result.
The finalists are also drawn to meet in the quarter-final of the upcoming Allam British Open, in which the London-born Waters was granted a wildcard entry.
Final:
[Q] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [1] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-4, 11-4, 12-10 (40m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [3] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 (51m) [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [2] Laura Massaro (ENG) 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 (46m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (38m) [3] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [6] Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (42m) [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [4] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 13-11 (60m) [2] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Aisling Blake (IRL) 11-3, 5-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-1 (63m)
1st round:
[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt Heba El Torky (EGY) 11-4, 11-4, 11-8 (30m) [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Lauren Selby (ENG) 11-4, 12-10, 11-8 (24m) [3] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG) 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (28m) [6] Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt [Q] Tesni Evans (WAL) 11-3, 7-11, 11-1, 13-11 [Q] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [8] Line Hansen (DEN) 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (27m) [4] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Deon Saffery (WAL) 11-6, 9-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-8 (41m)Aisling Blake (IRL) bt [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6 (41m)
[2] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Gaby Huber (SUI) 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 (34m)