Grinham Over Sabrina Sobhy, Khan Advances in WSA Richmond Quarters; Report by Kristen Lange April 18, 2014
- It was a great day of matches in Richmond as all the seeds were
stretched to their limits by the respective 7, 6, and 5 seeds as
well as the Columbian. Starting off the day was the imposing South
African Siyoli Waters and the feisty American Kristen Lange. Lange
started out the match strong, going for shots, finding her targets and
aiming for some great nicks, she took the game 11-4. However in the
second game Waters struck back imposing her will and aggressive style
of play taking the game 11-4. The third game was much the same as the
2nd with Waters taking the loose cross courts thrown over by Lange and
forcing the ball down. The fourth game saw an epic battle with Lange
finally straightening out her shots and finding the proper length
followed by accurate drops to take the game in a tight 13-11. However,
in the fifth game it was all over for Lange as the more experienced
Waters took control, volleyed everything into the front corners or
pounded the ball to the back thus taking the 5th game 11-3, earning
Lange the opportunity to ref the next match also going to 5 and
surpassing the one hour mark.
Waters df Lange 4-11 11-4 11-5 11-13 11-3 Up next was Latasha
Khan the experienced and wily veteran of the game vs the young jack
rabbit who flies and throws herself across the court Sarah Cardwell.
The match was close from the beginning with both players playing a
steady paced game not wanting to make the error first, at 9-9 Latasha
squeaked by to take the game 11-9. However in the 2nd with both players
sprinting and making some amazing gets Cardwell was the one to just
squeak ahead winning 11-9. The 3rd game saw the experienced Khan create
some amazing opportunities for herself going for some incredible
winners that even the speedy Cardwell could not return. She took that
game 11-3. Cardwell never one to back down continued to fly across the
court, wowing the crowd with hip breaking splits, pushing Khan to her
limits once again and won the 4th 11-9. Sadly the 5th game was all
Khan, she once again opened up the court beautifully and created the
opportunity to use her experience and incredible hands to push some
amazing winners into the front two corners. Cardwell never stopped
fighting and had a last minute comeback to gain a couple more points,
however the accuracy of Khans shots were too much and she won 11-4 in
the fifth.
Khan df Cardwell 11-9 9-11 11-3 9-11 11-4 The evening continued
in spectacular fashion as the former world number one Rachel Grinham
took centre court vs the reigning US National Champion Sabrina Sobhy.
The first game saw a lot of amazing retrievals from both players and
incredibly accurate shots from Grinham, however Sobhy never giving
up kept pushing, forcing a few crucial errors out of Grinham and
taking the game 12-10. The next game saw Grinham come out shooting,
taking everything in short or throwing in deadly lobs which Sobhy could
simply not return. She took the game 11-4. In the 3rd game both players
came out moving amazingly well across the court with Sobhy pushing
forward and pounding Grinham’s shots back or holding and misdirecting
the extremely agile Grinham. However, holding steadier in the latter
stages of the game, the veteran took it 11-8. To start the 4th both
players came out shooting and sprinting around the court, keeping the
first few points tight, but at 4-4 the experienced Grinham pulled ahead
with her ability to move the ball around the court whilst disguising
the shot so well that at times Sobhy seemed stuck in place. After
some incredible squash and a last minute dive by Grinham she goes on to
win the match 11-5 in the 4th.
Grinham df Sobhy 10-12 11-4 11-8 11-5 The fourth and final
match of the night saw the senior attending Trinity and hailing from
Columbia Catalina Palaez take on the number 2 seed Joshna Chinappa from
India. As expected this was a match showcasing both woman’s abilities
to take the ball into the front court as well as an extraordinary
amount of holding and hitting. The cat like Catalina took pace off the
ball to bring her shots in short, however the long and tricky Joshna
did well at counter attacking her shots, and pushing the pace of the
game to a level where Palaez could not play her game as much as she
willed. Chinappa took the first and second games in similar form 11-5
and 11-5. Starting the third the young Columbian came out strong taking
a 4-2 lead mainly built on tight drop shots and some amazing cross
court nicks. She maintained her lead the entire game through very
smart changing of pace and some beautiful shot making, putting Chinappa
on the run. Off of an unforced error brought on by a beautiful
backhand drop shot Palaez took the 3rd game 11-9. The fourth game
started out with both players moving the ball around the court, at 3-3
Chinappa moved ahead briefly to a 5-3 lead. After that Palaez fought
hard but the more consistent Chinappa went on a run winning the next 6
of 8 points and earning herself 6 match balls. After saving three match
balls, and another dive at the front court by Palaez, Chinappa closed
off the match 11-7.
Chinappa df Palaez 11-5 11-5 9-11 11-7 The sheer athleticism
displayed in all the games today made for quite an amazing day of
squash for both the players watching and the members. Excited to
see the matches tomorrow as this has been some of the best quarterfinal
round matches I have seen in quite awhile.
