Crome & Chinappa Vie For Victory In Vietnam

Top-seeded New Zealander Louise Crome and fifth seed Joshna Chinappa, from India, will contest the final of the Women's WISPA Vietnam Open after straight games wins in today's semi-finals of the WISPA Premiere Series squash event at the Hanoi Club in the Vietnam capital Hanoi.

Crome, from Auckland but currently based in Amsterdam, faced Australian Donna Urquhart, the fourth seed from Yamba in New South Wales. Urquhart led briefly in the second game, but it was Crome who had the upper hand throughout most of the game, eventually winning 9-4, 9-6, 9-3 in 41 minutes.

"I played quite well in patches, but that was the problem, it was patchy," said 21-year-old Urquhart, a left-hander. "I started each game well but I wasn't consistent enough. But Louise played really well tonight and had me under a lot of pressure."

Crome, now celebrating her 10th WISPA World Tour final appearance, was upbeat about her play. "That was one of the better matches I have played in a little while. Not only is it the first time I have played her, but the first Australian for a while. They hit it hard with intensity; and with Donna I had to keep reminding myself all the way through that she was a left hander. But I knew I really needed to be up for it today as Donna has had some good results recently."

Whilst Crome has one Tour title to her name, her opponent in the Hanoi final has yet to mount the winner's rostrum in a WISPA event. Joshna Chinappa, 21, from Chennai, prevailed in the all-Indian semi-final against future star Dipika Pallikal, the sixth seed who is just 16. Both have similar physiques, and both have a languid manner, but only Chinappa really fired in the match.

Pallikal was slow from the blocks and seemed to realise that success was beyond her despite getting fairly close. The teenager, also from Chennai, went down 9-6, 9-7, 9-4 - and afterwards admitted that her extended win over Elise Ng in the previous round had affected her.

"I was really sore from yesterday so I couldn't push hard enough. But it was a good week and I hope that it carries on in Malaysia at the next event," added Pallikal.

Chinappa, ever the perfectionist, was not entirely content: "I was happy that I won but I wished I had closed it down earlier while I was leading."

The 2008 Vietnam Open - the first professional squash event to be staged in the country - is the fifth tournament in the WISPA Premiere Series. Launched with the Icelandair Group Classic in the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik in September 2007, the new series went on to stage the Colombo Open in Lisbon, Portugal, in October, followed by the Iran Open in the north western Iranian city of Rasht in November. January this year saw the staging of the maiden Hangzhou China Open.

Semi-finals:
[1] Louise Crome (NZL) bt [4] Donna Urquhart (AUS) 9-4, 9-6, 9-3 (41m)
[5] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [6] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 9-6, 9-7, 9-4 (36m)