WISPA stars wind up for Soho Square

Sat, Jul 24, 2010

The World’s best female squash players are starting the buildup to the most important event of the year, September’s Soho Square World Open, as the 2010/11 season gets under way with this week’s $53,000 CIMB Malaysian Open in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Reigning World Champion Nicol David is aiming for a sixth successive Malaysian Open title, just days after winning the resurrected Malaysian National title for the first time, dovetailing neatly into the Datukship she was awarded in 2008 and the naming of the Malaysian National Squash Centre’s main court after her last October.

The world number one is seeded to meet England’s world number two Jenny Duncalf in the climax in KL, which would be their third meeting of the year, David having already avenged two late 2009 defeats at Duncalf’s hands with victories in the finals of Chennai Open and Cayman Islands Open, both WISPA Gold events at $53,000 and $55,000 respectively.

After KL the tour heads slightly South for the $55,000 Singapore Masters from 26-31 July, with David aiming for a fourth successive title in the upgraded event which will be played on an all-Glass court for the first time. David is top seed naturally, and with Duncalf taking a break 2007 World Champion Rachael Grinham is her anticipated final opponent.

Next stop is even further South, for the upgraded Australian Open in Canberra, another Gold event worth $56,000, from 08-15 August. Duncalf is top seed for this one as David takes a break, with Rachael Grinham, playing her first tournament in her native Australia since taking doubles Gold in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, again seeded number two.

Rachael won that medal in partnership with younger sister Natalie Grinham, who has been runner-up in the World Open four times, but will be absent this time around, having recently given birth to her first child at home in the Netherlands.

At the end of August it’s back to Hong Kong for one of the most popular stops on the tour, the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open, with $74,000 on offer from the 23rd to the 29th of the month. Here David will be aiming to lift the trophy for the sixth successive time, continuing the sequence which started when she claimed the first of her four World Open crowns back in 2005.

That leaves two weeks’ rest and training time – although some contenders will be playing the rescheduled Irish Open in Dublin – as the world stars prepare for the most prestigious test of all, the World Open in Soho Square, with a whopping $147,000 prize fund, by far the biggest ever for a Women’s event.

Although David and Duncalf have dominated the final stages of the major events for much of the past year, it’s not difficult to look beyond these two to find potential champions.

There’s Rachel Grinham of course, the world number three whose experience and unorthodox playing style are more than capable of propelling her to another title. England’s Alison Waters beat Duncalf in a spectacular final to reclaim the British Nationals title in February, and is enjoying her highest-ever world ranking at number four.

And of course the Egyptian crowd will have their own heroine, Omneya Abdel Kawy, former junior world champion and current world number six to cheer on. Kawy has a spectacular record on home soil, leading Egypt to the World Team Championship in Cairo 2008 and claiming the Hurghada International title three times in the last five years. Yes, she lost last year’s Soho Square Open final to Duncalf, but she could so easily have won that match three-nil, so easily.

Rounding out the top ten are Ireland’s Madeline Perry, surely due a major victory some time soon, England’s Laura Massaro, making a comeback this week after an extended injury break, and the ever-improving Australian Kasey Brown and Frenchwoman Camille Serme.

And that’s not to discount world number eleven Engy Kheirallah and number fourteen Raneem El Weleily, both members of Egypt’s World Championship team who consistently over-perform on home soil.

Can you wait that long, really, can you …

Well, to while away some of the time, you can have a look around the just-launched Soho Square World Open Official Site, www.sohosquareworldopen.com (ah, you’re already looking at it, aren’t you … don’t worry, there;s plenty more to come over the next few weeks)