40-Year-Old Latasha Khan Wins 17-15 in the Fifth to Qualify into Women's British Open, Sobhy & Cornett Winners from Tour Media
photo courtesy Steve Cubbins
May 20, 2013
- Two highly competitive rounds of qualifying at the Pontefract Squash
Club in Yorkshire, England has confirmed first round draw of the WSA
World Series Allam British Open.
The most memorable match of the qualifiers was certainly Latasha Khan’s
marathon match against young Misaki Kobayashi of Japan, lasting a
brutal 73-minutes. The experienced American led by two games, one
of which a 15-13 tiebreak, when the 23-year-old launched her comeback,
stealing a narrow third game 11-9, before gaining momentum to draw
level after the fourth. The pair, still deadlocked at 10-all,
commenced the second tiebreak of the contest and the veteran Khan had
to draw on all her experience to put down the world No.42 and claim the
final game 17-15.
The 40-year-old American will now face home hopeful Jenny Duncalf in
the first round of the British Open following her wins over Kobayashi
and earlier, Maud Duplomb of France.
Joshana Chinappa faces arguably the most difficult prospect of all of
the successful qualifiers, having been drawn to face top seed and
three-time British Open champion Nicol David in tomorrow’s opening
round.
The Indian had to stem the two-game comeback of Gaby Huber of
Switzerland in the first qualifying round, before coming from a game
down to defeat Welsh hopeful Deon Saffrey in four games to reach the
World Series main draw.
Not fatigued after a gruelling year of studying at Harvard College,
American Amanda Sobhy qualified for round one after dispatching local
Claire Walker, followed by Scottish national Lisa Aitken. Sobhy
will face prodigal teenager and last year’s finalist Nour El Sherbini
of Egypt in her opening round clash.
English pair Emma Beddoes and Lauren Briggs confirmed their main round
appearance on home soil following straight games wins over Nada El
Kalaawy and Melody Francis respectively. Beddoes, who dropped a
game in her first qualifying match against Amina Helal, will face
in-form Irishwoman Madeline Perry who won the Texas Open earlier this
month. Briggs will face Australian twelfth seed Kasey Brown.
Samantha Cornett of Canada will face Kiwi Joelle King in tomorrow’s
opening round following strong 3-0 wins against Sarah Cardwell and Olga
Ertlova.
Last month’s Irish Open runner-up Nicolette Fernandes will face former
British Open champion Rachael Grinham after beating Victoria
Temple-Murray and Lucie Fialova in straight games, whilst Malaysian
Delia Arnold’s victories over Laura Pomportes and Birgit Coufal see her
drawn to face No.3 seed Raneem El Weleily of Egypt.
The WSA Allam British Open first round will be played at the Pontefract
Squash Club, before moving to the KC Stadium in Hull on Wednesday to
join the PSA event, streamed live on www.psasquashtv.com.
1st round draw:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v Joshana Chinappa (IND)
[10] Natalie Grinham (NED) v Sarah Kippax (ENG)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v Samantha Cornett (CAN)
[13] Annie Au (HKG) v Aisling Blake (IRL)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) v Emily Whitlock (ENG)
[16] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
[7] Low Wee Wern (MAS) v Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[12] Kasey Brown (AUS) v Lauren Briggs (ENG)
[9] Camille Serme (FRA) v Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[8] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v Latasha Khan (USA)
[11] Madeline Perry (IRL) v Emma Beddoes (ENG)
[3] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) v Delia Arnold (MAS)
[14] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v Donna Urquhart (AUS)