Seeds Fall In Hong Kong Women's First Round from WSA Media
Khan v Grinham Joshana Chinappa
Urquhart v Hansen
Photos courtesy Squashsite
November 28, 2012
- The second day of Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong
Squash Open round one matches unearthed more surprise results at the
Hong Kong Squash Centre.
The biggest surprise for local supporters came as home favourite and
No.4 seed Annie Au lost out in a five-game scrap with Indian qualifier
Joshana Chinappa. The Hong Kong international dropped the first
game, before an ensuing game of cat and mouse led to the 23-year-old
adding to the World Series misery she suffered when losing in round one
of the U.S Open earlier in the year.
An unexpected inclusion to the second round, Chinappa will face
seasoned WSA stalwart Rachael Grinham, who progressed with a
comfortable straight-games win over Latasha Khan of the USA.
Another shock result saw number two seed Laura Massaro succumb to a
heavy defeat against former world No.4 Omneya Abdel Kawy. The
Englishwoman had been set to capitalise on the absence of Raneem El
Weleily from the World Series event, but her Egyptian compatriot Kawy
dismissed Massaro’s challenge in three games, to allow El Weleily some
breathing space ranked as No.2 in the world.
Kawy will progress to play New Zealander Joelle King, in a rematch of
last month’s Macau Open final. King took just 21-minutes to
dispatch French qualifier Coline Aumard in three games.
A third upset of the day came as Donna Urquhart suffered her fifth
consecutive first round exit, this time at the hand of unseeded Dane,
Line Hansen. In remarkably the pair’s third meeting in round one
of this event, Hansen took a comfortable two game lead against the
Australian, who seemed unable to mount any serious challenge for
points. The No.15 seed came close to constructing a comeback in
the third game, but was unable to swing the tiebreak in her favour.
Hansen will face sixth seed Alison Waters in round two, after the world
No.4 dismissed the challenge of her compatriot Emma Beddoes in straight
games.
Unseeded Aisling Blake came close to an upset in her first round tie
against eleventh seed Camille Serme. The Irishwoman came from
behind twice to draw level and force a fifth game, but the Paris-born
player proved too strong in the decider. Serme lines up against
last month’s China Open champion Low Wee Wern, following the seventh
seed’s strong three-game victory over qualifier Melody Francis.
2nd round: 18:00 - [1] Nicol David (MAS) v [16] Joey Chan (HKG) 19:30 - [5] Madeline Perry (IRL) v [9] Kasey Brown (AUS) 15:00 - [3] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [12] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 16:30 - [8] Natalie Grinham (NED) v [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) 17.15 - [7] Low Wee Wern (MAS) v [11] Camille Serme (FRA) 15:45 - [Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND) v [13] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 20:15 - [6] Alison Waters (ENG) v Line Hansen (DEN) 18:45 - Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [10] Joelle King (NZL)
1st round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-2, 11-5, 11-4 (23m)