WORLD SQUASH NEWS
RESULTS: Women's Texas Open Squash Championship, Dallas, USA
Final:
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) bt [2] Natalie Pohrer (USA) 9-10, 9-1, 9-4, 9-1 (47m)
Carol Owens Retains Texas Title
New Zealand's top seed Carol Owens overcame a first game deficit against
second seed Natalie Pohrer to beat the US No1 in the final of the $45,000
Women's Texas Open Squash Championship and retain the title she first won in
2002.
It was the third leg of the battle for supremacy between the current world
number one and two - fought out on the WISPA all-glass court on the atrium
ice rink in the Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas, USA, and watched by
a large and enthusiastic gallery of squash enthusiasts from Texas cities and
beyond.
Pohrer, the 25-year-old world No2 from St Louis, had beaten Owens in a
pulsating five-game World Open semi-final last November, winning 10-8 in the
decider. When they next met last month in the final of the Arader & O'Rourke
Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Station in New York, the match also
took five games to resolve - this time Owens coming out on top.
Pohrer came out of the blocks fastest in Dallas, racing to an 8-2 lead in the
first game before the New Zealander began to settle. Owens' volleying became
more fluent and drops more dangerous as she began to eat into the lead.
Eventually, after saving six game balls, Owens pulled level at eight-all.
Another was saved at 8-9 before two tinned boasts took the New Zealander to
her first game ball. This was saved, before Pohrer delivered an attacking
boast to finally take a 1/0 lead after 27 minutes - 18 minutes after first
serving for the game!
The second game started in similar fashion to the first, but this time it was
the New Zealander who rapidly progressed to 8-0. Although she picked up one
point, Pohrer was unable to stage a comeback and Owens closed at 9-1 to level
the match.
Both players were now employing a combination of attacking boasts and higher
floating balls, but Pohrer could only win rallies rather than points as she
didn't have enough patience as the Owens score climbed. The Auckland-based
defending champion, competing in her 45th WISPA World Tour final, reached
game ball at 8-1 before Pohrer staged a mini revival created by forging
openings at the front and putting away volleys. But a tinned one at 4-8
allowed Owens to move two games to one ahead.
The second seed was still finding it difficult to deal with Owens'
athleticism, resolution and accurate placement - despite the vocal support of
the crowd. Pohrer had finally reached meltdown. Owens reached match ball
and, though denied the first time by a deft cross court drop, took it the
second time with a stroke to win 9-10 9-1 9-4 9-1 in 47 minutes, thus
reinforcing her hold on the top spot in the WISPA World rankings.
After her third title win of the year, Owens was especially pleased: "I
don't think that I have had back to back wins before so I am pretty happy.
I've had a great week - it has been superbly staged and we have been so well
looked after."
Meanwhile Natalie reflected on her third runner-up position of the year: "The
first game was tough but I was a little too sluggish, my length a little too
short, my lobs too low. What a melon!"