Tania Takes Out Perry In Cleveland Upset

England's unseeded Tania Bailey claimed a significant scalp in her comeback campaign after almost a year out with injury when she beat sixth seed Madeline Perry in the opening round of the Women's National City Burning River Classic, the $39,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at Cleveland Racquet Club in Pepper Pike in the US state of Ohio.

Bailey, the former world No4 now languishing at 18 after undergoing knee surgery last April, took control of the match from the start, working the Irish number one up and down the backhand side of the court. With the exception of a lapse in the second game where Perry was able to take advantage of seven errors from her opponent, Bailey always seemed to be heading to victory.

It took four games, but Bailey won 11-3, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3 in the pair's first Tour meeting for over six years!

The 29-year-old from Lincolnshire now goes on to face top seed Rachael Grinham, the world No3 from Australia who also needed four games to overcome Danish qualifier Line Hansen 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-2.

There was further notable English success when third seed Alison Waters beat Egypt's Engy Kheirallah to avenge the Londoner's defeat in the deciding match of last year's Women's World Team Championship final in Cairo which led to Egypt claiming the title for the first time.

Waters will now face Jaclyn Hawkes after the unseeded New Zealander battled for one hour and 41 minutes to beat eighth seed Samantha Teran.

"This is certainly longer than anything we have seen in the previous two years and amazingly this is with the new scoring system that was questioned for making matches too short!" commented tournament organiser Nathan Dugan.

There was little between the players throughout the whole match. The Mexican had her chances to win the match, holding a 9-7 lead in the deciding game but Hawkes put four consecutive points on the board to end a marathon encounter 14-12, 13-15, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9.

1st round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Line Hansen (DEN) 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-2
Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [6] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-3, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3
[3] Alison Waters (ENG) bt Engy Kheirallah (EGY) 11-13, 13-11, 12-10, 11-4 (69m)
Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [8] Samantha Teran (MEX) 14-12, 13-15, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 (101m)
[5] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-4, 11-3, 11-6
[4] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG) 11-3, 11-9, 13-11
[7] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [Q] Latasha Khan (USA) 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5
[2] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [Q] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 11-7, 11-3, 11-6