5:11 am
17 May 2024

Lengthorn-Massaro Makes Montreal Final

4 Apr 2009

England's Laura Lengthorn-Massaro scored her second successive upset this year over world No4 Natalie Grinham to reach the final of the Women's Atwater Cup in Canada.

The 25-year-old world No7 from Preston, the third seed, came back from a game down to topple top seed Grinham, the former world No2 from the Netherlands, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in 65 minutes in the semi-finals of the $25,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at Atwater Club in Montreal.

It was after four defeats in a row since 2004 that Lengthorn-Massaro first beat Grinham in last month's KL Open in Malaysia.

The England international, now in her first WISPA Tour final of the year - and the 11th of her career - will face the in-form US champion Natalie Grainger, the second seed.

Grainger, yet to drop a game in the event, cruised to an 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 victory in just 25 minutes over Australia's fourth seed Kasey Brown to extend her unbeaten Tour run this year to 15 matches.

The 31-year-old from Greenwich, now in her 41st Tour final, is enjoying one the best periods of her career after winning three Tour titles already this year and rising to a five-year high No2 in this month's WISPA world rankings.

Semi-finals:
[3] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) bt [1] Natalie Grinham (NED) 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 (65m)
[2] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [4] Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 (25m)