Kippax & Kasey To Contest Dayton Climax

Top-seeded Australian Kasey Brown and England's Sarah Kippax, the third seed, will meet in the final of the Women's EBS Dayton Open after prevailing in straight games' semi-finals of the $21,350 WISPA World Tour squash event at Dayton Squash Centre in Dayton in the US state of Ohio.

"Kasey was pushed hard in the opening game by Joelle King of New Zealand," said tournament organiser Charlie Johnson. "They played long, impressively physical rallies, trading points until finally Kasey pushed through to win this long game in a tie-breaker at 14-12.

"Joelle seemed a bit let down in the second game after all the energy expended in the first game that lasted well over 15 minutes, but kept it even, again trading winning rallies until the game got to five-all and Joelle then let Kasey go on a six-point run to win the game.

"The third and final game was similar to the second - trading points up to seven-all and before Kasey broke away and won the last four points to take the match."

Brown's 14-12, 11-5, 11-7 win over the fifth seed takes the 24-year-old from New South Wales into the 18th WISPA Tour final of her career.

"The large crowd on hand, consisting of patrons and sponsors, parents of all the junior players on hand for the Junior Championships, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, many of the junior players who were watching wide-eyed at the previous match, now saw one of their own, 17-year-old American qualifier Olivia Blatchford (ranked 70 in the world) step on court to battle world No28 Sarah Kippax of England for a place in the championship match," added Johnson.

After a nervous start by the teenager, Blatchford stretched Kippax to a tie-break in the second game - and led 5-2 in the third.

But Kippax pushed through from nine-all to clinch the match 11-6, 12-10, 11-9.

The 26-year-old from Cheshire is celebrating her first Tour final of the year, but the 13th of her career.

Semi-finals:
[1] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [5] Joelle King (NZL) 14-12, 11-5, 11-7 (38m)
[3] Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt [Q] Olivia Blatchford (USA) 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 (32m)