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Howard's Roundup

Team Amsterdam turn up in support of Aisling

[10] Kasey Brown (Aus) bt [Q] Aisling Blake (Irl)
                        11/7, 6/11, 11/6, 7/11, 11/1 (51m)
[12] Annie Au (Hkg) bt [Q] Donna Urquhart (Aus)
                          8/11, 11/9, 11/2, 11/3 (36m)

Kasey & Annie quell qualifiers

The first pair of matches, one on the all-glass court, one on Frans Otten's permanent Centre Court, saw two qualifiers fall, but not without a fight.

Donna Urquhart took the first game against Annie Au and looked on for a repeat of her win over the Hong Kong girl in the Australian Open, but Annie fought back, coming from behind to win a close second game and taking the next two with increasing authority.

Kasey Brown got a bit of a fright against Aisling Blake. After a marathon comeback win last night, the Irishwoman looked up for another upset as she took the second and fourth games to force a decider in a highly-competitive match.

The fifth was one way traffic though, Aisling finally fading as Kasey romped to a 10-0 lead - the ref actually called "match to Brown ..." at this point, swiftly corrected himself, but it wasn't long before Kasey wrapped it up, although Aisling did at least manage to avoid the dreaded whitewash.

"I found it difficult to get used to the court in the first game - but in the next game I tried to be more patient and had the chance to play more shots. I got more relaxed as the match went on.

"I'm in my second year at University, studying Business Management, so can only focus on the major events, like this and next month's Hong Kong Open, and then the East Asian Games."



"I felt I started off well and had a game-plan and stuck to it. But she's a good player - and showed us why she's number 15 in the world. The end of the second game was crucial and if I'd won that it would have made all the difference. I just couldn't get my length - and leave anything short and she's all over you.

"But what I've done over the past two weeks has exceeded my expectations - I felt I've been playing some good squash. And having Sarah Fitz in my corner today was nice - she gave me some good advice."

"Aisling played really well - and Team Amsterdam is pretty intimidating really!

"I had a little trouble reading where the ball was going at first, and I knew I had to keep it tight and not give her opportunities, which I did too much.

"It's the first round of the World Open, there's always a few nerves so I'm Just happy to get through in the end ..."

"It's a shame we had to play in the first round, but it's the worlds, we both wanted to win and today I did.

"I didn't think about it being all-French, I just wanted to play my best.

"When I was coming back in the second I thought I should make a big push to win it as that would be tough mentally for her. I didn't do it so I just told myself to forget about it and come out fighting for the next game.

"Yes we Ken ..." *


* This was Camille's first match in the name of a young French player, Ken Chervet, who died in tragic circumstances last month Tributes

"She was better today, she's confident. I don't have the fighting spirit anymore - and I'm trying to deal with this. Camille is good for French women's squash - it's good to have someone pushing me in France. She has more fight in her ..."

Camille Serme (Fra) bt [9] Isabelle Stoehr (Fra)
                        11/8, 11/13, 11/7, 11/7 (46m)
[8] Laura Massaro (Eng) bt [Q] Joey Chan (Hkg)
                          11/6, 11/6, 11/8 (28m)

Camille takes French honours

The second set of matches saw another qualifier depart, and the first upset of the day.

Laura Massaro won comfortably enough against Joey Chan, while Camille Serme triumphed in the all-French matchup.

Serme, below Isabelle Stoehr in the rankings but definitely on the rise, took the first and narrowly failed to claw back a big deficit in the second. But she wasn't deterred, played solidly to take the next two and move into the last sixteen ...

"I played quite well - Joey has improved a lot recently. But that was a good win - it's the first round of the worlds and I want to do well,  everybody wants to do well here ...

"I wasn't massively happy with the way I played in the British Open - but the fact that I lost to Rachael, and she went on to win the title, made it slightly easier to take. But I've been working on my mental stuff ..."

Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt Delia Arnold (Mas)
                        11/4, 11/3, 11/4 (19m)
[6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) bt [Q] Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
                           11/7, 11/9, 9/11, 11/4 (44m)

Omneya still the boss

All the talk this week has been of the latest crop of Egyptian youngsters who seem to be taking the world by storm. Today Nour El Tayeb came up against Egypt's best junior of all time and Omneya Abdel Kawy showed that the latest batch still has some work to do - but time is very much on their side, of course.

Nour left everything she had on court, as she always does, but it wasn't enough to beat Omneya this time but she certainly made her work for her win.

On the glass court Jenny Duncalf had too much pace and precision for Delia Arnold, the Malaysian struggling to cope with the conditions and her opponent.

"I felt pretty comfortable - Delia's an up-and-coming player, but she can play better than that. I think she struggled a bit with the glass court, but I've played on it a lot. I was glad to get off in three.

"My preparation's been good for this event. My next opponent could be either Jaclyn or Engy  - that match could go either way ..."



"We don't play much - she's from another club. But my shots weren't that good. I wasn't comfortable. It's difficult playing another Egyptian, especially in the first round.

"It's a good result, but I can improve. Being part of the Egyptian team that won the world title has boosted my confidence ..."

Engy Kheirallah (Egy) bt [14] Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl)
                        12/10, 11/7, 11/13, 11/8 (76m)
[15] Samantha Teran (Mex) bt Suzie Pierrepont (Eng)
                         6/11, 11/0, 11/7, 11/7 (48m)

Engy & Samantha win toughies ...

"That was very tough. Suzie is very difficult - she's very tall and very strong, and she hits the ball well. But I'm happy to win - I did what I needed to do.

"Winning the second game 11-0 gave me confidence, and took it away from her. I've been away from Mexico for more than two months - longer than ever before - and been based here in Amsterdam for the past five weeks. I like being here in Amsterdam, where I can play with top players like Nicol and Aisling and train with Liz Irving.

"I wanted to win today so that I can play on the all-glass court tomorrow. And it's great that my parents arrived here yesterday."



"I'm so happy to win - she's a great retriever and she's tall so it's hard to play her. It's my best result since the World Teams - I haven't been doing extremely hard training since the worlds.

"I live in Cairo now, and it's hard without your coach and your club team-mates in Alexandria. But I play really well in training - the problem is in my head. I needed to win one tough match - and this was it. I don't care about the rankings - I used to think about them too much, and look at where I was and who was above me.

"But all it did was put pressure on me. Now I go to a tournament and, win or lose, it doesn't matter. I've beaten players in the top ten before, so I know I can do it."

[16] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt [Q] Joshna Chinappa (Ind)
                        11/5, 11/4, 11/6 (16m)
[13] Rebecca Chiu (Hkg) bt [Q] Amanda Sobhy (Usa)
                           2/11, 11/9, 11/3, 6/11, 11/6 (41m)

“I practiced on this court yesterday and quite liked it, I think it suited me better than Joshna today.

“I was quite nervous before the match, I took some time off and it’s my first match for a month or so and as it’s the World Open I really wanted to do well. You always have to be on your toes against Joshna, she plays a lot of shots and you have to try to figure out what she’ll do next.

“It’s great to have three Egyptians in the last sixteen, it’s the first time for a very long time that’s happened.

“And now we have a new World Junior Champion from Egypt who can win it more than the two times I did. I’d be really happy for her if she could, she’s a great player already and keeping the title in Egypt for a while would be very good.”


"It's the same as last year, when I only just won in the first round!

"It's the first time I plyed her, or even saw her play, she's very talented and much better than I expected her to be. Thinking back to when I was 16, I don't think I could hit the ball that hard!

"I'm happy to win in the fifth - it was quite close, but then I don't like playing against left-handers. I've never been too far in the worlds, so I hope I can do better in the next round ..."

Photographer's nightmare:
you turn up for a match to hear the referee say "match ball" ...
one rally, no shots, sorry!

[7] Madeline Perry (Irl) bt [Q] Latasha Khan (Usa)
                           11/3, 11/3, 9/11, 11/5 (31m)
[4] Alison Waters (Eng) bt [Q] Sarah Kippax (Eng)
                        11/6, 11/3, 11/4 (26m)

Perry wins a 'weird one' ...

"That was a weird one, wasn't it!

"I played really well for two games, she played really well for one, and then it was me again in the fourth. After two games I thought I was really good, the realised that you have to put the ball into the right places all the time, it was a bit of a wakeup call.

"I'm looking forward to going onto the glass court for the next round, and looking to do well here. It was disappointing to lose the final in Manchester having played so well to get there, I'd like to continue that form over here ..."

[2] Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt Lauren Briggs (Eng)
                            11/1, 11/3, 11/5 (21m)
 [3] Rachael Grinham (Ned) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng)
                           11/5, 11/7, 11/4 (26m)

Safe start for the Grinhams

They played the 'unofficial final' a couple of weeks ago in Amsterdam's Dam Square, but Natalie and Rachael Grinham won't be contesting the real final here this weekend, as they're both in the bottom half of the draw.

Before we started you wouldn't find many people betting against them meeting in the semi-final, and even less after both turned in polished performances tonight, both against English opponents who have caused them a lot more trouble in the past.

“I’ve played Lauren a few times, she’s played better against me than she did tonight, but I’m happy to get started with a three-nil win.

“I’m looking forward to playing in front of home crowds in this tournament, but I’m not thinking any more forward than the next match …”



“I was feeling much better than when I played Dom last week, which was very close. The closer it got the more I seemed panicking and it was just so hard to get settled, points disappear very quickly in this scoring.

“I knew it was important to get a good start tonight, play my shots and take her forwards, and thankfully it worked.

“I haven’t had that many good wins this year, and that’s always in the back of your mind, but winning a major tournament last week reminded me that I can actually win matches and gave me confidence going onto court today.

O"ur parents are here too - it's the first time they've seen us play in Europe - so that adds a little pressure, as you want to put in a good performance ..."

[11] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) bt Tania Bailey (Eng)
                           12/10, 8/11, 11/5, 11/5 (39m)
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt Orla Noom (Ned)
                           11/6, 11/4, 11/6 (26m)

Mixed fortunes for Dutch

The final matches of the day saw one Dutch player through, one out, in what were, to be fair, predictable circumstances.

Vanessa Atkinson beat Tania Bailey fairly comfortably last week in Manchester, and although the Englishwoman, just coming back after a series of injury layoffs and recent surgery - lasted longer tonight, just losing out at the end of the first but coming back to level.

After that though Vanessa Atkinson was on top, and ultimately came through comfortably enough to the last 16 in an event she won in 2004.

Orla Noom was delighted to be given the wildcard spot as a reward for her efforts in the Dutch Pro Series, but the hand that giveth taketh away too, and when Tommy Berden pulled her name out of the hat first in the public draw, Orla knew she was going to have trouble progressing further.

All credit to her though, she gave the defending champion and world number one a good run for her money, without really looking likely to actually win.

So Nicol David's quest for a fourth World Open title is under way, and if the crowd were disappointed that a Dutch player was defeated, well, Nicol, who spends several months in the year in Amsterdam, is a pretty good second choice ...

"Tania is amazing, whatever happens to her injury-wise she just keeps coming back, and she was much stronger already than when I played her just a few days ago.

"She's been up there with the very best, and was definitely the one the top 16 didn't want to get, and I got her twice! It was hard, but not so hard that it's going to affect me for the next match. I'm glad it didn't go to five though, and at least it gave me a runout on the court.

"It's nice to be back in Holland, I've been in England for two years now, but obviously I still have a lot of friends and great memories from here. Some of them said they'd come down to watch me on Friday - I told them I couldn't guarantee to be in that long, but I'd do my best ..."



"Last week I was dead after just one game, so I was actually quite pleased with how well I lasted today. Vanessa knew that I wasn't going to last though, and she made it hard at the beginning ...

"I haven't really trained for two years now with various injuries, and the doctors told me that I wouldn't be on court before November, and that only next year could I expect to see some improvement, so really anything I do this year is a big bonus.

"I can't believe how unfit I am and how bad I feel, people who aren't full time and don't train must feel like this after every match, I've definitely got to get back into training!"

"After losing like I did last week you have to put it behind you and work on what you have to do - and go for it, I knew I had to make sure I played a solid game.

"It's nice to be here in Amsterdam, with the feel of a local crowd. It gives you an extra boost."