White Scotches English Party At Nationals In Manchester

Scotland's John White stands in the way of an English double in Sunday's British National Championships finals after beating Londoner Adrian Grant in tonight's men's semi-finals at the National Squash Centre in Manchester.

The second seed will face James Willstrop, the favourite from Yorkshire in the men's final, while Yorkshire will also be represented in the women's final where sixth seed Jenny Duncalf will meet England team-mate Alison Waters, the fourth seed from London.

Duncalf staged an impressive comeback to upset Ireland's third seed Madeline Perry in today's first women's semi-final.

The 24-year-old from Harrogate is enjoying her best run for the past eight months - a period in which her world ranking has dropped from 6 to 12. Duncalf reached the last four after removing her England team-mate Tania Bailey, the defending champion and top seed, in the quarter-finals.

The England No5 took the opening game in the semi-finals, but a confident Perry stormed back to move 2/1 ahead. The home favourite drew level and then raced to 7-3 in the decider.

The service changed hands a number of times without altering the score, before Duncalf finally regained the initiative to earn her historic 9-6, 5-9, 2-9, 9-4, 9-3 win in 79 minutes - recording the longest match of the women's tournament to date.

"In the third game, I felt really flat and just couldn't get into it," said a smiling Duncalf afterwards. "But I said to myself 'stay calm, stay calm' - and in the fourth I got my length back.

"It was the same at 7-3 in the fifth, I thought I'd never get to match ball - and said to myself 'stay calm - just win the next rally'."

It was an exhausted Perry that talked to reporters afterwards: "At four-all in the fourth game I suddenly felt really tired, my strength just went and I couldn't keep up with the pace," said the eight-times Irish national champion from Banbridge near Belfast.

"At 3-7 in the fifth, I tried to get back into it, but just didn't have the strength."

"But overall, I'm really pleased with my progress here - I haven't played this well for months," said the 30-year-old, a semi-finalist for the first time.

In the other all-English semi-final, fourth seed Alison Waters came back from a game down to beat Lancashire's No5 seed Laura-Jane Lengthorn 8-10, 9-2, 9-4, 9-7 in 56 minutes to reach her second final in three years.

"We both had patches where we dominated the game, but I had to make sure I kept the ball wide - she's really strong around the middle of the court," said Waters, the 22-year-old world No10 from Southgate in London, afterwards.

Lengthorn, who made it through to her first semi after upsetting Manchester-based No2 seed Vicky Botwright, felt that she hadn't played as well as she had in the quarter-final.

"But I wasn't allowed to play as well - Alison didn't let me," said the 23-year-old world No11 from Preston.

"But I'm happy getting to the semis - I feel I'm playing well."

The most eagerly-awaited match in the event - the predicted men's semi-final between England and Pontefract club team-mates James Willstrop and Lee Beachill - failed to materialise when Beachill was forced to withdraw today after sustaining a neck injury in practice on Friday.

Willstrop, now in his second National final, will face White - the 33-year-old US-based Scot who was champion in 2004.

White stormed to an 11-3, 11-4, 11-8 victory in 36 minutes over Grant - extending his unbeaten record over the London left-hander.

"I had a game plan - and stuck to it all the way through," said White. "There were not too many unforced errors and I kept the rallies going.

"I built up a good lead in each game - I wasn't going to give him any cheap points.

"I like playing Adrian - he's a fast player.

"But I'm happy - another youngster out of the way!"

Men's semi-finals:
[1] James Willstrop (Yorks) bt [3] Lee Beachill (Yorks) w/o
[2] John White (Scotland) bt [4] Adrian Grant (Kent) 11-3, 11-4, 11-8 (36m)

Women's semi-finals:
[6] Jenny Duncalf (Yorks) bt [3] Madeline Perry (Ireland) 9-6, 5-9, 2-9, 9-4, 9-3 (79m)
[4] Alison Waters (Middx) bt [5] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (Lancs) 8-10, 9-2, 9-4, 9-7 (56m)