Cornett Beats Ranieri In Down-To-The-Wire Final To Capture WSA Montreal Open
by Yvon Provencal
March 2, 2012
FINAL
Samantha Cornett beats Miranda Ranieri (11-13, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9)
The players travelled to a new venue for the final match to join 40 women who were participating in one of Montreal’s famous Ladies Squash Nights. This was one of the rare occasion where there were more women spectators then men at a squash final.
With only a few ranking spots between the two, there a strong chance that this match would be a close one. Not only was it extremely close but it was also the longest of the week clocking at 60 minutes. The first game was strange; it was mostly wide open squash with many angles and short shots coming off both racquets. Miranda hit many tins to give Sam commanding 7-2 and 10-5 leads. But all of a sudden, the table turned and Miranda started running every shot that Sam hit and won 8 of the next 9 rallies to win the game! What a turnaround.
Game 2 was similar with Sam building 9-3 and 10-5 leads. But this time, she maintained her composure and closed the game out. So even though the score was tied at 1 game all, it seemed like the match was in Sam’s hands to win or lose.
But Miranda stormed back and played her best squash in the 3rd, hitting better length, moving the ball around the court and cutting down errors. She had stolen the driver’s seat and looked in control.
The see saw match was not over yet, this time it was Sam’s turn to play her best squash and putting together strings of points. At 9-4, never quit Miranda putt her down and started another comeback and Sam needed two winners to take the match to a decider.
This one was close all the way with never more than 2 points separating the two. But Sam was always ahead and the last few rallies showed how athletic, agile and determined the two top Canadian players are. The crowd had seen two girls battle it out at a furious pace and playing an all out attacking style form the start.
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