“GRAINGERED!”

By Nathan Dugan

Packed crowds gathered at the Cleveland Racquet Club on February 23rd to witness Natalie Grainger produce a ruthless performance capping an incredibly focused week of squash. Kasey Brown was the final victim of the week to be Graingered. She could do nothing to prevent the number one seed from regaining her crown won almost a year ago. Grainger had only lost 11 points coming into the final and had been in impressive form as too had her Australian opponent, who had also still to drop a game. The two players had never crossed paths before today’s meeting and it was Grainger who was the first to impose herself on the match. At 7-0 in the first game Brown must have been wondering if the same fate was awaiting her as Lloyd-Walter experienced the previous evening. Lloyd Walter had to wait until 7-0 in the second before she recorded one of only two points scored. At 8-0 up in the second game Grainger made a couple of casual errors giving Brown four straight points and a small glimmer of hope. That was to be the last points that Brown was allowed as Grainger showed no Mercy winning 9-1, 9-4, 9-0 in just over 20 minutes. The total points accumulated by all four of Grainger’s opponents over the course of the week amounted to just 16!

Emma Beddoes was the first of the week to feel Grainger’s wrath. Five points at the time seemed pretty mega but as the tournament unfolded and that tally remained unbeaten, any point scored appeared a small triumph. Latasha Khan managed just four small triumphs in Grainger’s next outing in the quarter finals.

Brown’s journey to the final in the bottom half of the draw also looked fairly straight forward on paper, the reality however was deceiving. Although Brown didn’t drop a game en-route her average match time exceeded an hour. In the semi-final Lauren Briggs held a 7-5 lead in the second game but Brown produced a display of relentless retrieving as she chased down winner after winner in multiple court sprints. Finally the effort paid off as Briggs made two errors to the tie the game. A dying length and a volley winner later, Brown held a valuable 2-0 lead in what was surely the pivotal point of the match. The two were locked at 6-6 in the third as well but as Brown proved it is easier to push through to the finish line when you have a two game lead. Brown’s quarter final opponent, Danish Champion Line Hanson, also kept her on the court for an hour but could never quite get herself a lead and into a threatening position. The same rang true for Laura Mylotte in Brown’s first round encounter.

During the rest of the tournament there were two major shocks in the early play. The first came on day one of qualifying when 14 year old American Amanda Sobhy defeated world number 8 1 Sarah Parsons in an enthralling five game match. The second upset occurred in the first round of the main draw when the 2007 finalist Isabelle Stoehr fell at the hands of Susie Pierrepont 3-1. This was a battle of the tallest player in the draw against the shortest and this time is was the court presence of Goliath that was the key factor. After winning the first Stoehr found the physicality of the match more and more frustrating as the game progressed, by the fourth there was not too much fight left in the French camp.

The only other seeded player to fall in the early rounds was sixth seed Louise Crome, who was knocked out by Irelands Aisling Blake. There was an increased edge to the encounter though as both players are based at the same club in Amsterdam and are regular training partners. This showed during the match as each player read their opponents game throughout. Neither player seemed to be playing their best squash at the same time with Crome taking the first 9-2 and Blake the second 9-1. The third game was evenly poised from start to finish and the referee was becoming more frequently called into play. Blake snuck the third 9-7 but the New Zealander hit back in a sensational manor winning the fourth 9-0. At 4-4 in the fifth Crome found the tin with a miss hit forehand drive which combined with a couple of quick winners from Blake she was able run out a 9-4 winner.

The quarter finals all produced straight forward wins for the higher ranked opponent. Pierrepont was unable to find the same magic from the racquet against Briggs that she had the previous evening and with the exception of a small stand in the third game was unable to cause her opponent too many problems. The first round match also seemed to have taken the sting out of Blake’s game. She could never quite match the pace of Lloyd-Walter in the first game but looked to have settled in to her rhythm as she took a commanding 6-3 lead in the second. Next followed a string of five very tough physically demanding rallies which Lloyd- Walter seemed to come out of looking much the stronger of the two, this then appeared evident in the score-line as Blake was unable to add to her point tally for the rest of the match. Grainger and Brown meanwhile were in a dominating form as they both progressed. From this point on, it was all about Natalie Grainger and who would try and stand in her way of a second Burning River Classic Title.