04-Feb, Final:

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (Aus)  9/1, 9/6, 6/6  rtd (45m)

03-Feb, Semi-Finals:

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [4] Natalie Grainger (Usa)                   9/7, 9/4, 9/5 (35m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (Aus) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy)          9/5, 9/4, 9/2 (26m)

03-Feb, Semis:
Nicol & Natalie renew rivalry in Rye

The world's top two squash players will renew their rivalry for the first time in the New Year when Malaysian Nicol David and Australia's Natalie Grinham face up in the final of the Marsh Apawamis Open, the first WISPA  Gold event of the year.

David, the world number one from Penang who was runner-up in Rye two years ago, despatched US star Natalie Grainger, the No4 seed from Washington DC, in 35 minutes.

In the other semi-final, defending champion Natalie Grinham - the world number two from Queensland looking for her third title since 2003 - avenged the earlier shock defeat of older sister Rachael Grinham by beating surprise Egyptian opponent Omneya Abdel Kawy in just 26 minutes.

The final will be the illustrious pair's 17th meeting since November 2003 - six of which were in 2007 - with the head-to-head count standing at 10-6 to the Malaysian.
   

02-Feb, Quarter-Finals:

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (Eng)      3/9, 9/7, 9/4, 9/5 (68m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt [8] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned)     7/9, 2/9, 9/1, 9/6, 9/6 (53m)
Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)     4/9, 9/3, 10/8, 9/6 (46m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (Aus) bt [5] Tania Bailey (Eng)             9/6, 9/5, 9/2 (35m)

02-Feb, Quarters:
Kawy Continues Giant-Killing Run In Rye

Egypt's unseeded Omneya Abdel Kawy continued her giant-killing run in the Marsh Apawamis Open by upsetting Australia's world champion Rachael Grinham in the quarter-finals.

Just 24 hours after despatching seventh seed Jenny Duncalf in the first round, the 22-year-old from Cairo recovered from a game down to overcome fellow Cairo-based Grinham, the No3 seed, in 46 minutes.

Kawy now goes on to face her opponent's younger sister Natalie Grinham, the second seed who defeated England's fifth seed Tania Bailey.

England's unseeded Laura Lengthorn-Massaro, who also pulled off a first round upset to reach the quarter-finals, took the first game against event favourite Nicol David - but the world number one from Malaysia came back strongly to win in four games.

David will now face US champion Natalie Grainger for a place in the final. The fourth seed squandered two games against Dutch opponent Vanessa Atkinson before coming back to beat the former world champion.
     

Natalie Grinham

31-Jan, Qualifying Finals:

Kasey Brown (Aus) bt Annelize Naude (Ned)             9/5, 8/10, 9/4, 9/2 (68m)
Latasha Khan (Usa) bt Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl)               6/9, 8/10, 9/2, 9/3, 9/6 (77m)
Samantha Teran (Mex) bt Dominique L/Walter (Eng) 5/9, 6/9, 9/5, 9/2, 9/0 (70m)
Engy Kheirallah (Egy) bt Raneem El Weleily (Egy)     5/9, 9/3, 9/3, 10/9 (53m)

30-Jan, Qualifying Round One:

Kasey Brown (Aus) bt Lauren Briggs (Eng)                       9/3, 9/3, 9/1 (34m)
Annelize Naude (Ned) bt Suzie Pierrepont (Eng)               9/2, 9/6, 9/0 (29m)
Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl) bt Natasha Kingshott (Usa)               9/2, 9/1, 9/4 (18m)
Latasha Khan (Usa) bt  Lauren Siddall (Eng)                 9/4, 4/9, 9/2, 7/9, 9/1 (60m)
Samantha Teran (Mex) bt Catherine Mcleod (Nzl)             9/1, 9/0, 9/3 (20m)
Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng) v Manuela Manetta (Ita)   10/9, 9/7, 4/9, 9/2 (66m)
Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt Amelia Pittock (Aus)              9/6, 9/2, 9/5 (28m)
Engy Kheirallah (Egy) bt Louise Crome (Nzl)                    9/3, 4/9, 9/0, 9/1 (38m)

2007 Event   2006 Event   2005 Event   2004 Event

01-Feb, Round One
Kawy & Lengthorn Cause
Upsets At Apawamis

Reigning British Champion Jenny Duncalf's loss to unseeded Omneya Abdel Kawy extends the Egyptian's head-to-head record between the pair to 4/1.  Kawy will now face fellow Cairo-based Rachael Grinham, the third seed from Australia who beat New Zealander Shelley Kitchen 9-5, 10-8, 9-2.
     

31-Jan, Qualifying Finals:
Marathon qualifiers in Apawamis
Arthur Curran reports ...

In today's first match in the Qualifying Finals we were treated to a sizzler. England-based New Zealander Jaclyn Hawkes, seeded 3, playing Latasha Khan, eventually took a 2/0 lead after two very long and close games lasting over 40minutes. But then Latasha fought back strongly to take the next two games 9/2 and 9/3 - 2/2 after 60 minutes on court. Then in a fascinating last game which went either way up to 6/6 and eventually lasted 17 minutes, Latasha found the extra strength to serve out for the match at 9/6, finally beating her higher ranked opponent to win a place in the main draw. A great match lasting 77minutes was roundly applauded by the audience comprising many of their fellow professionals.

There followed a good entertaining match between the two Egyptian ladies, with the lower ranked Raneem El Weleily taking the first game, but then Engy Kheirallah found her length and rhythm and, despite a close struggle in the fourth, took the match 3 - 1.

A fierce and brutal struggle ensued between these two closely matched and competitive players, which was constantly interrupted with discussions with the referee over many many let balls, But after a little hiccup in game two which Annelize Naude held on to at 10/8, the higher ranked Kasey Brown earned her place in the main draw first round.

The fiinal match of the day was between two ladies who have just swapped places in the February world rankings, Samantha Teran going two places above Dominique Lloyd-Walter. Another long hard match was expected, and of course we got one - in the end. Dominique started off firing on all cylinders, taking the first two games 9/5 and 9/6, and we thought we may be in for a fairly short match - but how wrong can we get? With Samantha finding her range and shots and Dominique tiring, she went on to take the next three games 9/5, 9/2, 9/0, the match taking 70 minutes in total. Samantha eventually earned her place in the Main Draw tomorrow against Vanessa Atkinson.
     

Qualifying Finals:
 

Qualifying Round One:

Qualifying Gallery from Arthur Curran
  

30-Jan, Qualifying Round One:
Seeds safely through in Apawamis
Arthur Curran on hand again ...

No upsets in the first round of qualifying of the biggest WISPA event of the year so far at the Apawamis Club, but Lauren Siddall pushed Latasha Khan to the limit.

Latasha is ranked 26 places above Lauren, you would certainly have not thought so the way Lauren fought her way back into the game to make it 2/2, but then the experience and tiredness showed and Latasha took the fifth 9/1.

The last match between Dominique Lloyd-Walter and Manuela Manetta was also a thriller with the Englishwoman prevailing in four games after 66 minutes, the longest of the day.