Grainger & Stoehr In Cleveland Climax

Top seed Natalie Grainger and fifth seed Isabelle Stoehr will meet in the final of the Women's Burning River Cleveland Classic after contrasting semi-final victories at the Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland in the US state of Ohio.

Grainger dropped the first game against England's Dominique Lloyd-Walter, the third seed. But the Washington-based 29-year-old, who became a US citizen last month, woke up from her initial shell-shock, winning the second without a loss of serve, in four minutes, 9-0!

The favourite maintained her attacking form thereafter and soon wrapped up a 3-9, 9-0, 9-2, 9-1 victory - and a place in her 28th WISPA final.

"Dominique destroyed me in the first game - she attacked first and she got me going the wrong way a few times," said Grainger afterwards. "In the second I lifted my focus a lot and made sure that every ball had a purpose, tried to hit the ball crisper with more cut."

Stoehr, who reached the last four after upsetting Australia's second seed Kasey Brown, ended Manuela Manetta's brave run, beating the unseeded Italian 9-4, 9-3, 9-3.

The win extends the 27-year-old from Chambery's unbeaten run this year to 11 matches - and takes Stoehr into her third WISPA final of the year, and the 12th of her career.

"I'm training hard and hopefully I can get into the top ten," explained Stoehr later. "I'm trying to build up my fitness and my game. I play with pace and play at the front when I get the opportunity.

"I am shorter than most other players so I need to be faster!"

Semi-finals:
[1] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [3] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 3-9, 9-0, 9-2, 9-1
[5] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-4, 9-3, 9-3