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Grainger survives the
Raneem test ...
Steve Cubbins
in LA
Top seed and hot favourite Natalie Grainger had looked awesome in
her previous matches this week, powering through the draw and taking
absolutely no prisoners.
Those who expected a repeat performance today were to be
disappointed, but what they got was a thrilling final, with the
young pretender pushing her experienced opponent to the brink.
The pattern was set early as Raneem opened out to 4/0 in the first.
Looking cool and unflustered the young Egyptian matched Natalie for
retrieving and quickly started to show her fine array of shots.
The tick count (my notes for rallies a player wins, really wins)
rose in Raneem's favour as she took the lead and went to 5/0 in the
second.
Natalie was starting to impose herself more now, cutting out the
loose shots that were giving Raneem the opportunity to put in her
drops or volley kills that were winning so many points. Slowly she
worked her way back and levelled.
At 3/0 to Natalie in the third it looked as though the match might
have swung, but just when Natalie thought she could relax, Raneem's
magic returned. Smaller and nimbler than her opponent, the world
junior champion was racing around court, often doing the splits on
her retrievals, and picking off those winners again.
Another swing as Raneem took a 2/1 lead and carried on to go 4/0 up
in the third - how many more twists? As it happened, just one as
Natalie picked it up again, and Raneem's error count started to
rise.
It was still tight, 4/4, 5/5, 7/7 in the fourth before Natalie took
it on a stroke and a tin, and she had to pull back from 2/4 in the
decider. Once she had levelled though it was all Natalie, five ticks
recorded as however hard Raneem ran her opponent was always there
for the next one.
So, the expected end, but not quite as expected. Natalie now
prepares for the Pan-Am Games in Rio while Raneem heads for the
World Juniors in Hong Kong.
On today's evidence I think I'll be
having an accumulator on Betfair ... |
 “I
felt really calm all the way through. I wasn’t thinking of the score
at any time, just trying to win each rally, but in the end the
errors I hit just killed me.
“The court floors are quite hard and you often find yourself having
to take another step and not being in the ideal position for the
shot.
“I tried my best, I didn’t have anything more to give out there, and
thanks to everyone for a great tournament.”
 “I
wasn’t very fast today, I’ve been struggling with a cold all week.
She got into it very quickly and I wasn’t quite there at the start.
She’s very good, very skilful, reads the game well and has great
touch.
“I wasn’t firing on all cylinders so I had to dig deep and push
through, choosing the right shots and not playing certain shots
because I knew I couldn’t cover them. A lot of the time I was just
hanging in, waiting for her to try something which could be a winner
or could give me a break.
“After I won the second I thought I knew what I needed to do but she
stepped it up again and just steamrollered me in the third. I had to
raise my pace to keep her at bay, I knew that if I worked her hard
she could make a batch of errors, so I had to will myself to that
higher pace and be ready to go after it when I could.
“It’s been a great week, thanks to all the sponsors and to Bob for
putting on another fantastic show.”
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