English World Bid Evaporates In KL Quarters

The English bid for success in the KL Women's World Open Championship evaporated today in Malaysia when its three quarter-finalists bowed out of the event at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

After boasting a mighty ten players in the last sixteen, England's slide began in the second round when second seed Cassie Jackman, the 1999 champion and twice a runner-up, crashed out with a 'dead leg'.

Fifth seed Linda Charman, from Eastbourne in Sussex, today took the opening game against in-form Vanessa Atkinson, the third seed from the Netherlands who last week won the Qatar Classic crown. But the 32-year-old world No7 conceded the match after the third game to give Atkinson a 7-9 9-1 9-3 (ret.) win.

"My body has just had enough," Elriani told www.squashnow.com afterwards. "I came out of Qatar with a sort of flu infection. Those symptoms have gone but obviously my body has not recovered fully. I emptied my tank getting past Jenny Duncalf in an 80-minute second round match and, even though I managed to win the first game, I had no 'oomph' at all from the start today."

Exactly a week after their meeting in the Qatar final, Atkinson will take on top seed Rachael Grinham for a place in her eighth WISPA World Tour final this year - all of which she has won! Grinham withstood a determined bid by England's Jenny Tranfield before triumphing 9-1 9-1 9-7 in 44 minutes.

The other semi-final will feature Rachael's sister Natalie Grinham and local favourite Nicol David. Grinham junior, the fourth seed, despatched England's eighth seed Rebecca Macree 9-6 9-3 9-0 in 35 minutes while sixth seed David, from Penang, delighted the Malaysian crowd with a 9-7 9-3 9-4 victory over New Zealand's 12th seed Shelley Kitchen.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [10] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) 9-1, 9-1, 9-7 (44m)
[3] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [5] Linda Elriani (ENG) 7-9, 9-1, 9-3 ret. (38m)
[4] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [8] Rebecca Macree (ENG) 9-6, 9-3, 9-0 (35m)
[6] Nicol David (MAS) bt [12] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 9-7, 9-3, 9-4 (31m)