LJ Makes Forexx Final

Laurens Jan Anjema delighted the partisan crowd at the Frans Otten Stadion in the Netherlands capital city Amsterdam when he secured an unexpected place in the men's final of the Forexx Dutch Open after beating Egypt's Omar Elborolossy in straight games.

The Dutchman will face Australia's top seed David Palmer, while the final of the women's WISPA Gold squash event will also see the top seed take on the No3 seed when Malaysia's Nicol David meets Australia's Rachael Grinham.

Anjema, winner of the Dutch National title for the first time this year, faced an opponent who 24 hours earlier had battled to a 74-minute shock win over No2 seed Olli Tuominen. The fresher 24-year-old from The Hague romped to a 11-4, 11-2, 11-8 win over the seventh-seeded Elborolossy in 42 minutes, to secure his 15th appearance in a PSA Tour final - and his third this year.

The other men's semi-final followed a remarkably similar path, with Palmer taking just a minute longer to despatch England's Alister Walker, the fourth seed, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5. The Antwerp-based world champion is now celebrating his 45th time in a Tour final.

After being stretched to four games by Irish opponent Madeline Perry in the quarter-finals, Nicol David was in devastating form in the semi-finals - crushing fourth seed Natalie Grainger, the in-form USA champion who won the Pan American Games gold medal in July, 9-2, 9-4, 9-2 in 32 minutes.

The 24-year-old Malaysian superstar from Penang is now in the 35th WISPA World Tour final of her brief career - but it is also her 16th in a row since winning the World Open in Hong Kong in December 2005!

By contrast, it took David's opponent 72 minutes to reach the climax. It was the Grinham sisters' 15th international meeting since February 2001, but this time it was the older sibling Rachael who prevailed - for the first time for more than a year - when she upset Amsterdam-based second seed Natalie Grinham 9-4, 6-9, 9-6, 9-2 after a hard-fought 72-minute encounter.

Rachael, the Cairo-based former world number one from Queensland, will be making her 41st Tour final appearance - and looking to end a 13-match losing sequence to Nicol David since the pair met in the Qatar Airways Challenge in April 2005.

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [4] Natalie Grainger (USA) 9-2, 9-4, 9-2 (32m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-4, 6-9, 9-6, 9-2 (72m)

Men's semi-finals:
[1] David Palmer (AUS) bt [4] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (43m)
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [7] Omar Elborolossy (EGY) 11-4, 11-2, 11-8 (42m)