Grinham & Grainger In Vassar College Final

Top seeds Rachael Grinham and Natalie Grainger will contest the final of the Women's Vassar College Class of 1932 Open after convincing semi-final victories in the WISPA World Tour Silver squash event in Poughkeepsie in the US state of New York.

Jenny Duncalf, the third seed from England described by tournament spokesman Tony Brown as being "cool as a cucumber", confidently took the first game against Grinham, the favourite from Australia.  The English underdog from Harrogate in Yorkshire twice led in the second, but Grinham drew level.

The third game proved crucial as world No3 Grinham raced to a 3-1 lead, only for Duncalf to reclaim the advantage to move 6-3 ahead.  But the Australian, who won her third British Open title last month, stepped up the pace to clinch the game.

Grinham pounced on the tired and disappointed Duncalf, ranked 12 in the world, in the fourth game:  "A quick fourth game seemed harsh for Duncalf as she had done so much to make this a good match," explained Brown, the College's Men's & Women's Rugby Coach. 

However, Grinham ran away with it to take the match 4-9, 9-6, 9-7, 9-1 in 59 minutes - and earn a place in her fourth WISPA World Tour final in a row, and the 43rd of her career.

By contrast, the other semi-final was over in half the time - "and the rallies tended to be shorter and more direct".  Grainger, the reigning Pan American Games champion from Washington DC, faced fourth seed Shelley Kitchen, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist from Auckland in New Zealand.

Grainger, the 2005 champion, had a simple plan and executed it well.  The US star played a host of long drop shots to the front left corner that lured Kitchen up, then blasted the ball deep to the back right corner.

Grainger claimed her sixth WISPA World Tour final appearance on home soil this year after just 33 minutes - the 9-3, 9-2, 9-6 victory also earning the 31-year-old a place in the 32nd Tour final of her career.