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TODAY in Cayman: Wed 6th,
Day FOUR |
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 Women's
Round One:
[Q] Sarah Kippax (Eng) bt [8] Annie Au
(Hkg)
11/4, 11/6,
9/11, 11/8 (39m)
[Q] Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt [6] Kasey Brown (Aus)
11/6, 13/11, 14/12 (48m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Marlene West (Cay)
11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (24m)
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl)
11/7, 11/6, 11/3 (29m)
Men's Quarter-Finals:
Chris Binnie (Jam) bt Cameron
Stafford (Cay)
11/9, 11/9, 11/4
(27m)
Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt Shawn Simpson (Bar)
11/3, 11/7, 14/12 (24m) |
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From the Observation Tower |
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[Q] Sarah
Kippax (Eng) bt [8] Annie Au (Hkg)
11/4, 11/6,
9/11, 11/8 (39m)
Annie's pain, Sarah's gain ...
You have to have a plan when you go on court against Annie Au,
the diminutive Hong Kong stat's game is all about lobs, drops,
flicks and destroying you at the front of the court.
 Sarah
Kippax had a plan alright, the English qualifier was
determined not to take Annie on at the front of the court, she
would almost invariable lob anything Annie put short, and if she
did go short herself it was only once, the next shot would go
deep again, probably via the aerial route.
Annie just couldn't get herself into position to play the shots
she thrives on, not often enough anyway, and she definitely
didn't help her own cause with six unforced errors in each of
the first two games as Sarah took the lead 11/4, 11/6.
She cut the errors out in the third though, and reaped the
reward, taking an early lead and then earning three game balls
at 10/7, taking it at the third attempted as Sarah, for once,
tinned
Annie led the fourth too, 5/2, but Sarah was still moving well,
still running down the attacks that Annie could muster, and
lobbing like, well like Annie does.
She worked her way back to 7-all, then 8-all. A dropshot glued
to the sidewall gave Sarah the lead, Annie's lob went out on the
front wall to concede match ball, and after a rare exchange at
the front Sarah punched Annie's weak lob deep with her opponent
stranded at the front.
So it's a second Cayman quarter-final in a row for Sarah - she
likes it here ...
 I
had a bad start in the first two games, but it's hard to play
Sarah, she played well and she was just putting everything to
the back. Today I just made too many errors.
I like it here so much I just have to keep winning!
I felt as though I played well today. Annie has such good touch
at the front with her drops, so I just kept it deep as much as I
could, ran down anything short hoping she'd have to cut it finer
and finer until she made a mistake.
I lobbed a lot today, yes, I had to play her at her own game!
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Checking the in-match updates with an iPad on the front row ... |
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[Q] Natalie
Grinham (Ned) bt [6] Kasey Brown (Aus)
11/6, 13/11, 14/12 (48m)
Nat's Back
 Well,
she's been back for a while, has Natalie Grinham, but
she's back beating some of the best in the world, which she
hasn't been doing since returning to tournament play after the
birth of her first child.
Following up a good week in Montreal - better than good, she won
the title - she's still going, a a three-nil victory over sixth
seed Kasey Brown really marks her return to the top tier.
Don't let the "three-nil" fool you though, this was a tough,
tough game, and Kasey can feel very unlucky not to have taken a
game at least, her effort, and it was some effort she put in
today, deserved that.
Natalie took charge of the first game, taking the lead in just
eight minutes as Kasey, who had never taken a game off her
opponent in seven previous meetings, struggled to come to terms
with Natalie's twisting and turning style of game.
For Kasey it was as much about running down everything she
could, and hammering it back if she got the chance. That
probably wouldn't have been her first choice of gameplan, but
with Natalie playing a few patient shots then throwing in those
boasts or offhand dropshots Kasey didn't have much choice in the
matter.
A recurring theme was: Natalie in the back left corner chops the
ball deftly to the opposite front corner, Kasey races in, can
usually only play a counter drop, Natalie charges in behind her
... at that point Kasey has to predict what Natalie's going to
do, sometimes successfully and she can put it away, sometimes
she's left stranded. That happened a lot of times.
Anyway, Kasey hung in there in the second, 5-all, 6-all, got to
8/6 up and tinned an absolute sitter from two feet from the
front wall with Natalie stranded on the back wall.
From there the rallies became even tougher, both performing
almost miraculous recoveries at times. Natalie got to 10/8,
Kasey had a chance at 11/10, but Natalie took it 13/11 ... that
tin at 8/6 proved costly for Kasey.
At 3/0 up in the second Natalie broke a string, Kasey then took
six points in a row to lead 6/3 then 7/4. Natalie levelled at
7-all, and from that point on it was like a repeat of the
endgame of the second, but tenser, and tougher.
Kasey got one more chance at 10/9 to pull a game back, but put
her boast into the tin. Natalie had match balls at 11/10 and
12/11, and with both players at times running like lunatics
Kasey saved them both.
Natalie put in one of those crosscourt drops from the back, this
time Kasey couldn't quite get there, and on her third match ball
Natalie finishes it off with a stunning volley kill down the
forehand wall. She's back alright ...
 "I
feel pretty exhausted after that, I've had a long run of matches
now, I'm not used to it any more!
"Kasey's improved a lot over the last couple of years, she's
much fitter and her shots are really good, it was tough to break
her down. It's a tough court, at times in the third I thought
I'd hit a perfect length or a winning drop, and she'd manage to
get it back and on we went.
"I was doing well in the third, then my string broke - I've been
playing well with that racket, I hadn't lost with it, and the
new one had a different feel even though I string them the same,
I started to lose the third easily and it took a while to get
used to it.
"I actually think I'm playing better than before - I was world
number two for a long time, and that brought extra pressure
every time I went on court. Now I'm the underdog, I can play
with more freedom and I'm really enjoying it. I've calmed down a
lot in my normal life, but not on court!
It's a challenge to play on the tour and be a parent too, but I
love challenges ..."
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[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)
bt Marlene West (Cay)
11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (24m)
Rachael ends Cayman hopes
 "So
we get you over here, give you a good hotel, lovely sunshine and
beaches, Stingray trips and all that, and that's how you repay
us ?!?!?" joked MC Dan Kneipp after third seed Rachael
Grinham had dished out a three-nil beating to Cayman's own
champion and wildcard Marlene West.
Actually Rachael gave Marlene a good game, but as Marlene
herself said, "there's such a gap once you start hitting the top
players. Top thirty you can have a go, top ten you're in
trouble, but when you reach the top three, whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
...."
The large, enthusiastic crowd played its part and the Camana Bay
stage of the 2010 Cayman Islands Open was well and truly under
way ...
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[1] Nicol
David (Mas) bt Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl)
11/7, 11/6, 11/3 (29m) Jaclyn's
good, but Nicol's Nicol ...
 Jaclyn
Hawkes reckons that she played, and won, one of the best matches
of her life last week in Montreal, and tonight she certainly
looked to be playing well, and she led 7/6 in the first and 5/2
in the second.
Trouble is, last week she was playing the world junior champion,
tonight she was playing Nicol David.
These days Nicol doesn't do the 'Duracell Bunny' of old, with
all the franticness that that trademark suggests - she just
glides around the court, she doesn't rush, she doesn't seem to
hit it very hard, but she's always there, she always has time,
and she always puts the ball just where you don't want it to be.
 So
she ground out those first two games, reeling off a string of
points at the end of each, and then, having made Jaclyn work
hard in the humid conditions, she reeled off six unanswered
points at the start of the third to effectively finish the match
as a contest.
MC Dan said that he wants to see her lose a game in this her
third visit to Cayman.
Nicol was polite, as she always is, but if Dan's to be granted
his wish someone's going to have to play well, very well.
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Chris
Binnie (Jam) bt Cameron Stafford (Cay)
11/9, 11/9, 11/4
(27m)
Binnie still has the hold on Cameron
 "I
was really nervous at the start," said Cayman's Caribbean Junior
Champion Cameron Stafford after the first men's match on the
Camana Bay glass court. "I've played Chris lots of times and
he's always beaten me, so I really wanted to win this time, but
I played terribly!"
Binnie, the Caribbean Senior Champion of 2009 who recently won
the deciding match to maintain Trinity College's 12-year
unbeaten streak in US College Squash alive, disagreed:
"That was really tough, Cameron is playing so much better than I
remember, I was just hanging in for the first two games and
somehow managed to win the last two points, then in the third
all my shots just seemed to come off!"
Yes, he faded in the third, but Cameron, who after a few months
training in Amsterdam has just turned professional, did play
well in those first two games, and without the pressure of
expectation from the home crowd he's sure to do well in his
first ventures as a pro.
He received a nice boost when one of the tournament sponsors
Cayman Airways brought a surprise present onto court, a dozen
flights to the US mainland to help him compete in some of the
many PSA tournaments held there. Nice one, Cayman Airways, nice
one.
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Ramy
Ashour (Egy) bt Shawn Simpson (Bar)
11/3, 11/7, 14/12 (24m)
Ramy magic wows Caribbean crowd
"I don't think a Caribbean player has ever taken a game off o
world number one and world champion," MD Dan told Shawn Simpson
after the tall Bajan had taken on Egyptian wizard Ramy Ashour in
the second men's match. "But you came close, so close!"
 Yes,
this was Ramy in exhibition mode, and the crowd loved it, even
his opponent was applauding at some of the shots he was coming
out with, but Shawn wasn't fazed, as can sometimes happen in
this type of matchup, and at times gave as good as he got.
He has a lot of power, does Shawn, and a hell of a reach, and he
used both well. They also had one of the longest drop drop drop
battle in the front right corner that I've ever seen, so he has
touch too, does the big man.
And yes, he got a game ball, at 10-9 in the third, but but Ramy
snuffed that chance out. Still, it was 24 minutes of magic that
the crowd will remember - and so will Shawn, who, far from being
nervous, absolutely relished the chance to be on court with
Ramy.
Ramy himself was full of praise for the tournament, Cayman, and
the CINSA junior programme - just as well, as he took on one of
their youngest for a few points afterwards ... |
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