Corren & Camilleri Cruise To Canberra Conquests

Top-seeded Australians Mike Corren and Lisa Camilleri picked up where they left off last year when they took out their respective finals at the ACT Open squash championships today in Canberra, Australia.

South Australian Corren downed Egyptian Basem Makram 11-3, 11-8, 11-3 in the final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event, while Queensland's Camilleri was too good for Melbourne's Melody Francis, winning the women's WISPA World Tour Tour 4 event climax 11-6, 11-6, 11-3.

Both Corren and Camilleri were serial winners in Australian tournaments in 2010, Corren claiming eight titles during the year and Camilleri nine.

And they showed no signs of easing off in 2011 as they wrapped up their matches at Woden Squash Centre in straight games.

Camilleri, 28, was playing her first tournament of the year and said she had taken a while to settle into the match.

"I was a bit nervous at the start - a little bit too excited," she said. "But my coach Vicki Cardwell came down at the end of the first game and told me to slow down, but it took me a game and half to settle down."

Camilleri said she had been suffering a stomach bug over the past few days and didn't want to stay on court for too long.

"Melody has become a lot steadier over the past 12 months and looks to keep the rallies going, so I tried to volley everything. I was really focused in getting off in three games."

The title was Camilleri's 16th of her career, while Corren chalked up title number 33 with his win.

"At the end of last year I made some changes and sorted some health problems out," said 37-year-old Corren. For the last month I've felt like a new person and my movement has become so much better."

Corren said Makram looked fatigued after fighting his way through some tough matches to make the final - and he made sure he took full advantage.

He said it was refreshing so many international players had come to Australia for the tour.

"Every guy I played here was different (from last year)," he said. "I was the only Australian in the last four so I thought to myself 'I don't want these overseas guys coming here and winning our tournaments'.

"But it's good for the younger guys to see different players and different styles of play."

Corren now heads to Brisbane, where he is the fourth seed at the Hibiscus Gardens Open, while Camilleri has a two week break before the Westerfolds JDP tournament, where she is once again the top seed.