Joshana Chinappa Defeats Rachael Grinham to Capture $10K WSA Richmond Open by Kristen Lange April 19, 2014
- It was a thrilling week of matches as both Rachael and Joshana fought
hard to make it to the finals of the first ever Richmond WSA Open.
Today’s match was a battle as Rachel and Joshna both played
amazing squash during the course of the week. The final was Rachael's
65th tour final of her career, a number most players would feel
extremely lucky to have next to their name, and Joshana's 16th tour
final, also a very impressive number. Head to head Rachel had a 5-0
lead over her opponent, however statistics and head to heads mean
nothing once the players entered the court let their racquets do the
talking!
Starting the first
game Grinham came out swinging, firing her way to a 6-2 lead, however
Chinappa surged back through consistent play to level the game off at
6-6. From here it was a battle to 11, with the lead oscillating between
the two players until a couple unfortunate mistakes gave Chinappa the
first game 11-9. Continuing to ride the momentum Chinappa, in a matter
of minutes created a 6-1 lead over Grinham. She continued the fast pace
that gave her this lead and even though Grinham scored a few more
points she was not able to counter the pace and accuracy of Chinappa as
she won the 2nd game 11-5. The start of the 3rd game was once again all
Chinappa as she quickly sailed to an 8-2 lead over Grinham. Never one
to be counted out Grinham fought her way back to 8-8, however it was a
case of too little too late as Grinham made three critical errors to
give Joshana her first win over the courageous Australian in a stunning
3-0 shocker of a match.
This week displayed
some amazing squash and the crowd at The Country Club of Virginia
certainly got their fill of women’s squash. On behalf of WSA and the
players thank you to CCV for the amazing venue and hospitality. WSA
showed some of their best squash this week, and truly inspired the
audience, empowered all involved and entertained.
