31-May, Final:
[1] Samantha Teran (Mex) bt [2] Sharon Wee (Mas)                  9/1, 3/9, 9/2, 9/2 (38m)

30-May, Semi-Finals:
[1] Samantha Teran (Mex) bt [4] Latasha Khan (Usa)                      9/6, 4/9, 9/1, 9/3 (68m)
[2] Sharon Wee (Mas) bt [3] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng)  9/7, 5/9, 6/9, 9/7, 3/0 rtd (80m)

Teran's Turn

The latest instalment of Samantha Teran and Latasha Khan's ongoing rivalry saw Teran cover too many balls, making it very difficult for Khan to end rallies in all but game two.



Teran was especially effective in the front, left corner, both going there on her own and redropping with speed and precision. Khan played well throughout, and won game two with short kills on loose, mid-court balls.

Teran's tight play in games one, three, and four didn't give Khan enough to work with, giving the Mexican #1 a well earned victory, and a spot in her second straight Goshen final.
  
Lloyd-Walter limps out

Sharon Wee raised her game yet another level and came out fast, cutting off everything, and going short at every opportunity. Wee's touch was amazing, going one inch above the tin, and a full step farther forward than other players. Lloyd-Walter fought hard, but was unable to establish good length, and lost most of the front court gambits.



The second, third, and two-thirds of the fourth game saw Dom vary the pace, hit good length and width, with many high cross courts, that kept Wee behind her. The battle continued, but with Dom only going short at the most opportune moments, the English #6 soon found herself up two games to one and 5-2, and looked like closing it out.

Lloyd Walter then started clutching at her hamstring and her movement became severely limited. Wee soon realized that Dom couldn't move to straight shots and took quick advantage. Dom took an injury time out at 6-6, and on her return managed to get to 7-6, two swings of the racquet away from the final. But it was not to be, and when the fifth started with Lloyd-Walter unable to move to three straight winners from Wee, Dom conceded the match.
  

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Video Report

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Photos by Jill Perry
and Amber Illingworth

Photos by Jill Perry
and Amber Illingworth

9/6, 4/9, 9/1, 9/3 (68m)

[4] Latasha Khan

9/1, 3/9, 9/2, 9/2 (38m)

[2] Sharon Wee

[4] Latasha Khan
9/5, 9/7, 9/1 (44m)
[7] Alana Miller

Karen Kronemeyer
7/9, 9/3, 9/3, 7/9, 9/3 (73m)
[3] Dominique Lloyd-Walter

9/7, 5/9, 6/9, 9/7, 3/0 rtd (80m)

[2] Sharon Wee

26-May, Qualifying Finals:
Nouran El Torky (Egy) bt Stephanie Edmison (Can)    7/9, 10/8, 9/0, 9/6 (48m)
Samantha Cornett (Can) bt Ileana Novelo (Mex)        9/3, 9/6, 9/1 (22m)
Coline Aumard (Fra) bt Amanda Sohby (Usa)             9/1, 9/7, 10/8 (35m)
Heba El Torky (Egy) bt Belkys Magaly Velez (Ecu)      9/0, 9/1, 9/2 (19m)

25-May, Qualifying Round One:
Nouran El Torky (Egy) bt Olivia Blatchford (Usa)              9/5, 9/1, 9/4 (32m)

 
   

      2007 Event                     2006 Event                    2005 Event   

[1] Samantha Teran bt Joshna Chinappa
        8-10, 9-5, 9-1, 9-1 (52 min)

Samantha shoots into semis

Going for short shots is what it's all about for Joshna Chinappa, and it came off perfectly in game one to lead 8-3. Samantha Teran adjusted, dug in, and levelled to 8-8, but Joshna was still able to close. Game two was the real battle, but tins crept in more than winners for the Indian #1, and the tide started to turn. Teran was able to return short-for-short taking it 9-5.



Games three and four were not well contested, with Teran reading the play and reacting well, and Chinappa hitting tins instead of length. Maturity and solid squash, added to her natural inventiveness, will make Chinappa tough in the future.

[4] Latasha Khan bt Alana Miller
       9-5, 9-7, 9-1 (44 min)

Khan in control

Latasha Khan's length, width, and movement were too good tonight for Alana Miller to make any real inroads. Miller varied the pace well but without being allowed an effective attack, it only prolonged the inevitable in their continuing see-saw rivalry.

[2] Sharon Wee bt Tricia Chuah
          9-5, 9-6, 9-4 (34 min)

Wee waltzes through

The battle between Malaysia's #2 and #3 went as expected, with solid play from both sides. The difference seemed to be a little tentativeness on Chuah's part, hesitating to move to some of Wee's straight shots, where perhaps the ball, a let, or more could have been had. Wee was aided by her short game which was a notch above her round of 16 performance.

[3] Dominique Lloyd-Walter bt Karen Kronemeyer
     7-9, 9-3, 9-3, 7-9, 9-3 (73 min)

Dominique despatches K2

This scorcher of a match had it all, and being here is the only way to truly appreciate the high entertainment value. The always entertaining Karen Kronemeyer did not disappoint, both with her exciting play and her animated banter with the referees when many close calls did not go her way. Adding to the drama, at one point Lloyd-Walter suddenly left the court, feeling sick after being hit by Kronemeyer's backhand reverse angle.



The best moment of all though was at the end of game three. Dominique won it, and started to leave the court. Karen then exclaimed "you're not going to shake my hand?" having forgotten that she won the first game.

Karen seemed to be mentally and physically finished at this point, but to her credit, she came back and won the fourth and had to really fight to do so. It was Lloyd-Walter who was physically and mentally stronger in the fifth, maintaining focus long after she thought she would have to, and coming up with some great shots when she needed them most.
  

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Photos by Jill Perry
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Photos by Jill Perry
and Amber Illingworth

Alana Miller bt Kylie Lindsay 9/4, 9/0, 10/8 (34m)

Canada's Alana Miller applied pressure through pace and playing balls early to the front, and although Kiwi Kylie Lindsay counter punched well, Miller took game one 9-4 in six minutes.  Lindsay tried to turn the tables with her great hands, but went for too much as Miller read the situation perfectly: 9-0. 



Lindsay established good length and varied the pace in the third, making it even more difficult by saving four game balls and leveling to 8-8. But Miller finally found the winners she'd been looking for and closed it out 10-8.

Samantha Teran bt Nouran El Torky 9/2, 9/0, 9/0 (23 min)

The pace was high as a fifteen-year-old tried to keep up with top seed Samantha Teran. The young Egyptian succeeded for a time, with the first seventeen rallies yielding a score of 2-2 (9-8 in new money). But then the floodgates opened as El Torky wore out a bit, and the last game went in a single hand.  Twelve years experience will make a big difference for the tiny teen as well.

Joshna Chinappa def. Georgina Stoker 10-8, 9-7, 9-7 (39 min)

Georgina Stoker has learned to hit shots in the last year, and went trick-for-trick and nick-for-nick with the always inventive Joshna Chinappa to an 8-3 advantage in game one. Six game balls were not enough though, as a combination of luck, mental let-down, and tenacity gave Chinappa the game 10-8 after 18 minutes. 



The same athleticism led Stoker to 5-2 in the second before starting the slide to a 9-7 loss. Disheartened to start the third, quick errors from Stoker led to 0-5, but a run of good shots and refocusing saw her serving at 7-5 in one hand. Same story, different game - Chinappa dug in and Stoker couldn't close ... mental training coming soon for the soon-to-be South Carolinian. 

Latasha Khan bt Camille Serme 9-2, 9-1, 9-6 (33 min)

The ball for this match was noticeably faster than others, some commenting that it must have been a blue dot, but it was not.  Consequently most of the play was to the back, and good length was hard to find. Camille Serme was a little impatient, and made errors when she attempted to end rallies by going short. Latasha Khan adjusted her length, and the combination of pressure and patience eased the nervous French teen out of the match. 
 

Photo Gallery and Slideshow

Local TV
Video Report

Photo Gallery

Photos by Jill Perry
and Amber Illingworth

Photos by Jill Perry
and Amber Illingworth

Karen Kronemeyer bt Runa Reta            9-2, 9-4, 9-1 (33m)

The night's best match on paper proved to be rather one-sided as Canada's Runa Reta had nothing to hurt the Netherlands' Karen Kronemeyer as K2 returned to her adopted home court in Indiana [Karen spent a few months coaching here after last year's event]. Kronemeyer's recent showing of great form was in stark contrast to Reta, who recently spent four months studying in Austria, and away from the racquet.

Dominique Lloyd-Walter bt Heba El Torky 10-8,9-3,9-6(53m)

Egyptian qualifier Heba El Torky showed why she may be a contender for World Junior Champion as she forced England's Dominique Lloyd-Walter to stay on court 53 minutes for only three games.

The 17-year-old held two game balls in the very tense, first game before falling 10-8. The second two games were closer than the score, as El Torky threw everything she had at the experienced World #23. El Torky had tenacity, pace, shot-making, and deception, but it was too much to keep up for too long.

Lloyd Walter's great concentration and smooth play finally forced errors from El Torky, but expect to see more from this keen, young fighter.

Tricia Chuah bt Samantha Cornett          9-1, 9-2, 9-4 (25m)

Canadian qualifier Samantha Cornett fought well, and showed great athleticism and future promise as she tussled with #5 seed Tricia Chuah. The pace, movement, and experience of the Malaysian #3 was too much in the end, and though the match was fun to watch, the result was never in doubt, but another strong showing from a junior qualifier.

Sharon Wee bt Coline Aumard             10-8, 9-7, 9-3 (38m)

French qualifier Coline Aumard got off to a slow start in the first as she adjusted to the pace of the number two seed Sharon Wee, but came back to game ball, 8-7, through great shot making. Especially effective was her backhand short volley, straight and cross-court, against the steady Malaysian.

But Aumard's strength was also her weakness as she tinned game ball and was unable to close it out. A 0-5 start to the second didn't make things any easier, and Wee didn't let up. Aumard drew close to 7-8 through more great volleys, but again came just short.

Wee kept up the steady length and width to close the third more easily, but we'll look for better performances in the future from the young French woman.
  

Canadian twenty-year-old Stephanie Edmison displayed impressive shot-making, deception, and movement as she took game one from the tiny buy feisty Nouran El Torky. But the fifteen-year-old Egyptian started to read the game better and was able to eke out the tight second 10-8. Edmison fell apart in the third, hitting wide, loose shots which Nouran took easy advantage of to win 9-0. Edmison pulled it back together for the fourth but was getting tired by this point, and from 6-6 the Egyptian just had too much fight to let it go.

The deceptive and fast seventeen-year-old Egyptian Heba El Torky made short work of Ecuadorian number one Belkys Megaly Velez. El Torky's pace and out-of-nowhere, forehand boast never let Velez get into the 19 minute match.

Canadian seventeen-year-old Junior National Champion Samantha Cornett stayed on to of Mexico's Ileana Novello by playing the ball early and taking it short at just the right times. Novello fought hard to stay in it, and made some excellent shots herself, but Cornett ran outt he winner in just over 20 minutes.

Seventeen-year-old, French Junior National Champion Coline Aumard faced off against fourteen-year-old American Junior National Champion Amanda Sohby in a classic battle of right versus left. The first game was awkward, cold, and short as the American was slow to get out of the blocks. Aumard played mostly to the lefty's backhand and Sohby was content to play on the right wall, giving Aumard complete control.

Sohby used the whole court more in the second and play equalized to 7-7, with Aumard just taking it 9-7. The third was close as well, with Sohby now taking more initiative by applying pace down the left wall and bringing the ball short with better effect to 8-5. Game ball and nerves set in, and a string of Sohby errors took Aumard to 9-8, match ball in a single hand. It was a solid performance from Aumard and an excellent effort from the rising fourteen-year-old Sohby.