Grinham sisters make squash history to reach world final
Though Venus and Serena Williams have achieved this in tennis, there are no conspicuous examples elsewhere and the Grinhams ensured it would happen for the first time in squash by winning their semi-finals on an all-glass court erected in front of the royal palace in the Spanish capital city.
Natalie, the second seed, was always in control despite admitting to a bout of nerves during a 9-2, 9-5, 9-7 win against Tania Bailey, who led England to the world team title in Edmonton last year.
Rachael, seeded third but the form player after winning the British Open last month, produced the higher quality performance of the two during a 5-9, 9-6, 9-0, 9-3 win over Natalie Grainger, the former world No 1 from the United States.
And although the older Rachael lost her tussle with Natalie in the Commonwealth final in Melbourne 19 months ago, she may be the slight favourite this time. She leads 10-6 on the head-to-heads.
“Finally we can look forward to playing each other because we are not knocking each other out of a tournament,” Rachael said after a tense but determined effort in beating an opponent who was skilful and strong-minded and had reached the world final once before.
“I am sure we both want to win the world title, but when we played each other in the Commonwealth Games it was almost like all the excitement was over when both us had had got to the final,” Rachael added.
“I felt like I was trying to do it but it wasn’t the same - I didn’t have the killer instinct, and it didn’t bother me which of us won it. But I really want to win this one.”
Natalie didn’t entirely agree. This was her third final in four years, prompting her to ask, “It would be nice to win one, wouldn’t it?” However she added: “But I have already achieved my ultimate goal,” referring to her winning all three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.
She nevertheless admitted: “I am quite excited about it. When I was getting towards the end pf my match I was already really nervous. I kept getting flashbacks to the Commonwealth Games. I am quite excited and shaking a bit. That’s not because of the cold, it’s the excitement.”
The younger sister scored well in the top right corner and was always superbly quick to the front against Bailey, and was only challenged when the English player, who had reached the semis for the first tome despite taking antibiotics from sinusitis, fought back bravely in the third game from 3-6 to 6-7.
Rachael by contrast had spells when it seemed that Grainger, who is particularly dangerous on cold courts with her mixture of heavy kills and deft drops, might win.
Grainger won the first game well, with Rachael looking tense, and the fifth seed also led by 4-0 in the third game. But while both players showed great skill with drops and cut-off volleys, only the Australian also had great speed.
This was the crucial factor as Grainger slowed, becoming increasingly unable to impose her heavy hitting on the rallies and also less often able to counter-drop effectively in the front court exchanges.
Grainger became increasingly frustrated with refereeing decisions as well, even though most of them, with three officials being used, were unanimous.
Several times too the 30-year-old tossed away her racket in annoyance, as if sensing that one of her last chances to win the world title was evaporating.
Friday’s results (x denotes seeds):
Semi-finals: Natalie Grinham (AUS x2) bt Tania Bailey (ENG x4) 9-2, 9-5, 9-7; Rachael Grinham (AUS x3) bt Natalie Grainger (USA x5) 5-9, 9-6, 9-6, 9-3.
—AFP