Waters Shines To Collect First WISPA Title
25th July 2011 - South Africa's Siyoli Waters swept aside the competition to collect her first WISPA title at the Tour 4 Hitachi Queensland Open this week.
The 28 year old Cape Town resident was playing her first tournament of the Australian Circuit and her freshness may have attributed to her success.
The week was full of shocks and the second round saw the seeds decimated in stunning fashion.
Australia's sixth seed Samantha Davies was the first to go, she was beaten in five by younger compatriot Christine Nunn. A second clash between two young Aussie's followed and it was Zoe Petrovansky who upset the hierarchy to knock out Maggy Marshall in straight games. Sarah Cardwell was two games up and looked on her way to victory but was pegged back and eventually undone by rising Scottish star Lisa Aitken.
The Queen of the Australian circuit in the last few months, Melody Francis, couldn't maintain her 12-match winning streak. She was seeking a fourth title in a row but was a step behind Korea's Ahn Eun Chan. Francis had beaten Chan a couple of weeks earlier in the Victorian Open final and started to find her feet as the match went on, but Chan closed out the match 17-15 in the fourth. The final shock of the second round saw New Zealand top seed Kylie Lindsay beaten in five games by Wales' Deon Saffery. Saffery was out of sorts last week in the Tasmanian Open but showed her class here by ousting the world number 42.
The quarter finals saw order restored and the higher seeds in each of the four matches prevailed, all in straight games. Saffery sent the 20 year old Aussie, Nunn, home in three games. Waters overcame dangerous young Kiwi Amanda Landers-Murphy and the Korean duo of Chan and Song Sun-Mi beat Aitken and Petrovansky respectively.
The semi finals saw a historical moment, with two Koreans in the semi finals of a tournament for the first time ever. Second seed Song Sun-Mi had won the previous meeting between the pair and it was the 21 year old who triumphed again on this occasion, denying Chan a third final in a row.
On the other side of the draw, Waters rebounded strongly from losing the first game to Saffrey and took control of the match to ease into her third final of the year.
The final was a nervy occasion between two players that had never played each other before. Waters edged a close opening game on the tie break. From then on it was the South African's incredible speed and accuracy of her shots that saw her pull away and make it third time lucky in tour finals to take the title.
Next week sees all the players return to action for the final tournament in the Australian Circuit, New South Wales Open. Waters and Song could create a repeat final as they feature in different sides of the draw.
Final:
[4] S Waters (RSA) bt [2] S Sun-Mi (KOR) 13/11 11/6 11/6
Semi Final:
[4] S Waters (RSA) bt [9] D Saffery (WAL) 9/11 11/3 11/7 11/3
[2] S Sun-Mi (KOR) bt [11] A Eun Chan (KOR) 12/10 12/10 6/11 11/7
Quarter Final:
[9] D Saffery (WAL) bt [15] C Nunn (AUS) 12/10 11/4 11/7
[4] S Waters (RSA) bt [8] A Landers-Murphy (NZL) 11/6 11/9 11/5
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt [12] L Aitken (SCO) 11/7 11/7 11/4
[2] S Sun-Mi (KOR) bt [10] Z Petrovansky (AUS) 11/6 14/12 11/6
2nd Round:
[9] D Saffrey (WAL) bt [1] K Lindsay (NZL) 8/11 11/8 11/4 9/11 11/3
[15] C Nunn (AUS) bt [6] S Davies (AUS) 15/13 8/11 11/4 12/14 11/4
[4] S Waters (RSA)bt [13] S Skaarenborg (DEN) 11/1 11/8 11/7
[8] A Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [14] G McErvale (AUS) 11/4 11/3 11/3
[12] L Aitken (SCO) bt [5] S Cardwell (AUS) 9/11 4/11 11/9 11/8 11/7
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt [3] M Francis (AUS) 11/2 11/8 8/11 17/15
[10] Z Petrovansky (AUS) bt [7] M Marshall (AUS) 11/9 11/9 11/6
[2] S Sun-Mi (KOR) bt [16] E Stack-Masula (AUS) 11/3 11/2 11/2
1st Round:
[15] C Nunn (AUS) bt B Chan Mi (KOR) 12/10 11/13 11/9 11/6
[13] S Skareenborg (DEN) bt C Siervald (NED) 11/5 11/8 11/7
[14] G McErvale (AUS) bt N Newton (AUS) 13/11 11/5 11/7
[12] L Aitken (SCO) bt E O'Connor (AUS) 11/4 11/4 11/4
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt B Malund Lind (DEN) 11/3 11/1 11/4
from WISPA
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