Naude Boosts Local Interest In Golden Dutch Open

Annelize Naude clinched a straight games victory over New Zealand's Louise Crome in the women's qualifying finals of the Forexx Dutch Open to boost local interest in the WISPA Gold squash event at Frans Otten Stadion in the Netherlands capital city Amsterdam.

But it was a good day for France in the men's qualifying finals, with Mathieu Castagnet and Julien Balbo - both semi-finalists in last week's BAA Bishop's Stortford Festival in England - claiming first round berths in the 2-star PSA Tour event.

Naude, the world No17 from Amsterdam, recovered from 5-7 down in the first game, then saved two game balls, before beating Crome, her Amsterdam-based training partner, 10-9, 9-6, 9-0 in 45 minutes. The 30-year-old's reward is a first round clash with another local training partner Vanessa Atkinson, the former world champion from The Hague who is the event's No8 seed.

The qualifiers' draw delivered another domestic clash when Aisling Blake - the Irish number two who upset England's higher-ranked Dominique Lloyd-Walter 9-5, 9-0, 9-2 - was lined up against Irish number one Madeline Perry, the seventh seed, in the first round. The pair famously last met on the Tour in the first round of the 2006 Women's World Open in Perry's home city of Belfast.

Mathieu Castagnet earned the fastest men's qualifying win - beating Dutchman Piedro Schweertman 11-6, 11-9, 11-2 in 34 minutes. The 20-year-old from Le Mans will take on Italian Davide Bianchetti in the first round - while fellow Frenchman Balbo will face Finland's second seed Olli Tuominen after defeating South African Jesse Engelbrecht 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.

Swede Badr Abdel Aziz battled for 47 minutes to overcome Italy's Luca Mastrostefano 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 - then discovered that he had been drawn to face David Palmer, the reigning world champion from Australia who is the event's top seed.

Women's qualifying finals:
Annelize Naude (NED) bt Louise Crome (NZL) 10-9, 9-6, 9-0 (45m)
Aisling Blake (IRL) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 9-5, 9-0, 9-2 (34m)
Latasha Khan (USA) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG) 9-1, 9-5, 9-5 (40m)
Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt Tricia Chuah (MAS) 9-7, 9-0, 9-0 (31m)

Men's qualifying finals:
Badr Abdel Aziz (SWE) bt Luca Mastrostefano (ITA) 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (47m)
Bradley Hindle (AUS) bt Lucas Buit (NED) 11-10 (2-0), 11-4, 9-11, 11-7 (49m)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Piedro Schweertman (NED) 11-6, 11-9, 11-2 (34m)
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Jesse Engelbrecht (RSA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (37m)