Seeds Suffer In Seattle

Only half of the seeds survived on a dramatic opening day in the Women's PMI Seattle Open at the Pro Sports Club in Seattle, where English players claimed unexpected places in three of the four quarter-finals.

Australia's fourth seed Natalie Grinham was the highest-ranked player to fall, squandering one-love and two-one leads to go down to England's unseeded Tania Bailey in five games in the Silver 25 WISPA World Tour event.

Bailey, a former world No4 who is fighting her way back to the top after a serious of injury setbacks, led 4-0 in the fifth game, but the Amsterdam-based Queenslander took the English player by surprise by reclaiming the initiative to win eight points in a row and reach match-ball.

After a pair of good shots by Bailey, combined with a few errors from Grinham, the underdog drew level at eight-all. Bailey maintained her focus, however, and closed out the match 5-9 9-3 3-9 9-3 10-8.

The 25-year-old from Lincolnshire would have expected to meet her England team-mate Linda Elriani, the sixth seed, in the next round. The world No6 from Eastbourne led 2/1 against unseeded Shelley Kitchen, but with the New Zealander poised at game-ball in the fourth, Elriani conceded the match as a result of an injury, with the score at 10-9 2-9 4-9 8-4.

Alison Waters became the only qualifier to make it to the last eight when she upset her England team-mate Vicky Botwright, the seventh seed, 9-4 4-9 9-6 5-9 9-0. It was the 21-year-old from London's third successive victory this year over Manchester-based Botwright.

Waters, voted WISPA's 'Most Improved Player of the Year' last year, goes on to face Malaysia's Nicol David after the third seed defeated Welsh qualifier Tegwen Malik 9-6 9-5 9-3.

Only one ranking position separates Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy and England's Jenny Duncalf. But in an evenly-contested clash, unseeded Duncalf upset eighth seed Kawy 4-9 10-8 10-8 9-3 to secure her first win over the former world junior champion.

Duncalf, 22, from Harrogate, will meet world champion Vanessa Atkinson in the next round after the second seed from the Netherlands ended local interest in the event with a 9-3 9-3 9-3 win over six-times US champion Latasha Khan.

1st round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) 9-1, 9-2, 9-3
[5] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [Q] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) 9-1, 10-9, 9-4
Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [4] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 5-9, 9-3, 3-9, 9-3, 10-8
Shelley Kitchen (NZL) bt [6] Linda Elriani (ENG) 10-9, 2-9, 4-9, 8-4 ret.
[Q] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [7] Vicky Botwright (ENG) 9-4, 4-9, 9-6, 5-9, 9-0
[3] Nicol David (MAS) bt [Q] Tegwen Malik (WAL) 9-6, 9-5, 9-3
Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 4-9, 10-8, 10-8, 9-3
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Latasha Khan (USA) 9-3, 9-3, 9-3