World Open Day 6 – Afternoon Roundup

Teran takes out Third seed Grinham

Day six of the World Open Squash 2011 at Rotterdam’s Victoria Squash opened up with the biggest upset yet as Mexico’s Samantha Teran, seeded fourteen, beat Rachael Grinham, the Australian who was champion in 2007 and was seeded three here.

There was no sign of what was to come as Grinham eased through the first game, but Teran’s hard-hitting game seemed to neutralise Grinham’s slower, more measured game as the Mexican totally dominated the next two games, denying her attacking opportunities and catching her out with drops and boasts of her own.

Could she keep it up was the question, and she did for the early part of the fourth, staying ahead as the rallies grew longer and more tense.

A Grinham lob at the end of a long rally sailed out to bring up 10/8 matchball, and Teran was denied what, from my viewpoint, looked an obvious stroke. Grinham levelled, with Teran looking for the easy way to win as she twice stopped looking for strokes which weren’t there.

At 11/10 though Grinham put the ball back over her own head for an obvious stroke that was given, and we had a Mexican quarter-finalist.

Pallikal powers past Kanzy

With two players who caused upsets yesterday meeting, and unexpected place in the World Open quarter-finals was on offer for Dipika Pallikal or Kanzy El Dafrawy, and it was the higher-ranked Indian who took advantage, taking the lead in all three games and never letting her Egyptian get a real foothold in the game.

It the early stages of the third it looked as though Kanzy’s more physical style was beginning to unsettle Dipika, but she held her composure and closed out the match with aplomb.

Palmer keeps his nerve

In a match worthy of two former world champions who have both spent ten unbroken years in the world’s top ten, Australia’s David Palmer emerges as the winner over Frenchman Thierry Lincou in front of a packed crowd on Victoria’s show court.

Palmer twice took the lead, but Lincou levelled and opened up an 8/5 lead in the decider. In a tense, tense finish it was Palmer who took the final few points as the crowd rose to applaud two warriors of the game.

Darwish too strong

The final match of the afternoon session saw Karim Darwish through to a quarter-final meeting with Palmer as the third-seeded Egyptian got the better of two relatively tough games against Spaniard Borja Golan before cruising through the third.

Results:

[15] Samantha Teran (Mex) bt[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus) 4/11, 11/2, 11/3, 12/10 (53m)

Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt [Q] Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy) 11/6, 11/7, 11/7 (37m)

[8] David Palmer (Aus) bt [10] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11/9, 3/11, 11/8, 6/11, 11/9 (96m)

[3] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Borja Golan (Esp) 11/9, 11/7, 11/1 (31m)

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