It was down to the last four tonight, with four of the world's
top ten still in contention for the inaugural Soho Square title.
First up was an all-British affair with British Champion Jenny
Duncalf taking on her Northern Irish rival Madeline Perry.
Duncalf has had the better of their recent exchanges, winning
seven on the trot, and continued that run tonight, winning 3/1
although it was never easy.
Then it was time for Rachael Grinham and Omneya Abdel Kawy to
resume their duel.
They traditionally meet in Hurghada, more often than not in the
final, and back in April it was Omneya who prevailed to take
that title. She also beat Rachael a couple of weeks ago in the
Hong Kong semi-finals, and today repeated that effort in
convincing fashion.
Jenny Duncalf extended her run of victories over Madeline Perry
to eight as she moved into the final of the inaugural Soho
Square championship.
Well worked rallies, interspersed with a few too many unforced
errors from both at times, it was the Englishwoman who was able
to make the decisive breaks, pulling ahead from 5-4 to 10-6 in
the first - Jenny finding four shots that just died in the
backhand corner - and from 4-all to 10-5 in the second, setting
up a two-game lead.
In the third it was Madeline who edged ahead from 8-all, taking
the game with the help of two tins from her opponent.
The fourth was nip and tuck, Madeline taking the lead six times,
Jenny levelling six times, but from there she took control,
finishing off the rallies with aplomb. Jenny's mishit boast to
finally take the match brought a wry grin to Madeline's face,
but by then she sensed it wasn't going to be her night, again
...
The head-to-head record didn't look too good for Omneya Abdel
Kawy going into this match, with Rachael Grinham leading 16-6.
Statistics can lie though, and dig a bit deeper and you'll find
the Australian led just 4-3 in the past two years.
Omneya had also beaten Rachael, 3-0, in the Hong Kong semis just
days ago, but in Omneya's own words, "Rachael didn't play then,
so getting to the final helped my confidence yes, but beating
Rachael like that wasn't real."
Tonight she won 3-0 again, and this time it was definitely real.
Always ahed in the first, she quickly opened up a good lead in
the second, 7-1 becoming 10-5.
Rachael enjoyed her best spell of the match then, slowing the
pace and lobbing her opponent to death. She came back to 10-all,
had a chance to level at 11-10 but tinned a dropshot. Omneya
took the next two points and was two games to the good.
Not going for her shots as much as she often does, Omneya
rallied out the start of the third, volleying whenever she
could, but essentially keeping the ball tight unless she was
offered something loose to attack.
She kept a point or so ahead until 5-all, then unleashed a
series of winning shots that took her into the final - a couple
of volley kills, an unreturnable dropshot and a perfect length
to finish, leaving Rachael scrabbling around in the back corner.
It was a real win for sure, and an impressive one at that.
