WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Credit Suisse Privilege Women's World Open Squash Championship, Hong Kong

Semi-finals:
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) bt [6] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 6-9, 9-7, 9-6, 9-6 (49m)
[4] Cassie Jackman (ENG) bt Nicol David (MAS) 9-6, 9-3, 9-4 (29m)

Owens & Jackman To Contest World Open Final

Carol Owens of New Zealand and Cassie Jackman from England - the world's top two players and both former world champions - will meet in the final of the Credit Suisse Privilege Women's World Open Squash Championship after contrasting victories in today's (Friday) semi-finals on a cold open air court overlooking Hong Kong's famous harbour.

Top seed Carol Owens, the 32-year-old world No1, battled her way into the final after beating sixth seed Vanessa Atkinson, of The Netherlands, 6-9 9-7 9-6 9-6 in a 49-minute clash that she acknowledging afterwards was more a scrap rather than a squash match.  By contrast, 30-year-old fourth seed Jackman advanced with a good deal more authority against Nicol David, the unseeded young Malaysian sensation of the championship, to win 9-7 9-3 9-4 in 29 minutes.

Jackman showed no sign of the spinal surgery that twice took her out of the game during the past two years, nor the tense inhibition that marred her appearance in the British Open Final in June. 

Owens, on the other hand, started in shocking manner: "I don't know if I was too relaxed or too tense.  I just couldn't get my legs going at first and Vanessa started so well," Owens said.  "It doesn't get much worse that this."

It was not until she hit a straight backhand passing shot to the deep court at 2-7 in the second game that the Auckland-based favourite began to get to grips with the confident attack of the seven-times Dutch Champion.  Simultaneously, Atkinson seemed to fall away from the easy swinging movement and surprising shots that had given her complete control of the rallies to that point.

Owens fought her way back into the semi-final rally by rally.  Lengthening the exchanges and working the ball away from the areas from which Atkinson had previously been able to produce wrong-footing late boasts or sharp little volley drops.

A run of unhelpful line decisions from the referee, Chris Clark of Hong Kong, discountenanced the sixth seed as she sought to contain the Owens counterattack but, once the New Zealander found a good length with her drives that could open the front court to her usual short attack, it was an uphill struggle for the player who had removed the third-seeded Rachael Grinham, the British Open Champion, from the quarter-finals.

"Once I found a length on which to base my attack, I felt I was back in the match," said Owens.  "But I was in real trouble at the start. The court was surprisingly cold and maybe that was why my legs were not working so well.  But that meant my shots became effective once I got them going.

"It is always good to get a performance like that behind you.  Now I can start psyching myself up for the final.  It can only get better from here."

The 2000 champion will need to be better, certainly, if Jackman can again find the sure touch and powerful accuracy with which she drove past the 20-year-old who had embarrassed both the experienced Fiona Geaves and the in-form second-seeded Natalie Grainger on the way to the semi-finals.

Of the court specially mounted for the first time on the promenade of The Hong Kong Cultural Centre on the edge of Victoria Harbour, Jackman said:  "It was cool enough to hold my shots but live enough to take good drives deep into the back.  For Nicol, who likes a bit of bounce and lift in the ball to work on, it was a bit of a problem I guess.  It suited me perfectly."

It will be Jackman's fourth World Open final.  She defeated Michelle Martin to take the title in Seattle in 1999, but lost to the same player in Guernsey in 1994 and to the record five-times champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald in Kuala Lumpur in 1996.  "I am just so happy to be here again.  When I was lying in bed for six weeks after back surgery last year, I seriously doubted I could ever do this again."

A crushed spinal disc forced Jackman out of the game and into surgery twice in the past two years.  She regained world No2 status this month after reaching the British Open Final in Nottingham and defeating Owens to take the US Open Championship in New York.

David acknowledged that she was simply outplayed in this semi-final: "Cassie is so experienced on these courts and was so strong in her play tonight that I was always playing to her tactics," she said. "I am just so pleased to have done so well in this tournament and I have learnt so much from being here, especially from that match with Cassie, that even losing seems like a bonus."

Official website: www.worldsquashopen.com/