14-19 April 2013, Pretoria, South Africa
- After losing out in the final of the Central Gauteng Open last week,
South African number one Siyoli Waters went one better at the NSA Open,
capturing her fourth WSA title and her first on home soil after
defeating top seed Kylie Lindsay in the final.
The first round saw two upsets as local qualifier Farrah Sterne, a
former top 50 ranked WSA player, beat fifth seed Antonella Falcione,
the Argentinean number one in four games. Unseeded Korean Ahn Eun Chan
followed this with four game win over seventh seed Milnay Louw. Chan,
who was ranked as high as 52 this time last year, was playing her first
event for almost 12 months. Top seed Lindsay, had to tough it out
against Korean qualifier Kim Ga-Hye, eventually coming through in four
tough games.
Lindsay and Waters both needed four games to progress to the semi
finals, while Chan continued her march through the draw, leading third
seed Laura Pomportes two games to one before the French number three
had to retire due to calf injury. The local crowd almost saw a second
South African reach the semi finals as fourth seed Cheyna Tucker led
sixth seed Salma Nassar two games to one before the Egyptian fought
back to win in five games.
In the semi finals Lindsay looked down and out trailing Chan two games
to love. However, she fought back and eventually took the match in the
decider. Waters and Nassar’s semi final match was a repeat of last
week’s semi final at the Central Gauteng Open and just like last week,
Waters came through in four games to reach the final.
Waters, 30 and Lindsay, 29 are currently only one ranking place apart
and their only prior encounter was at the Pyramids International last
October where Waters won 11-9 in the fifth. This time Waters delighted
the home fans by edging Lindsay in three close games and secured her
fourth WSA title and first in South Africa.
Waters will be strong favourite to secure her fifth WSA title next week
as she is top seed at the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Open in Cape Town.