WINNING GRIN
Squash star Rachael Grinham takes out Australian title at Marrara
RACHAEL Grinham took just half an hour to beat Sivasangari Subramaniam and claim her second Australian Open at Darwin Squash Centre last night.
The former world No.1 defeated her Malaysian opponent 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 to add to her World Open title, four British Opens and five Com- monwealth Games medals.
Seeded first, Grinham didn’t drop a set all tournament, putting her in good stead for the Commonwealth Games next April.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Grinham said.
“I came up here as the No.1 seed, so you are expected to win, but it was a tough field of players and I knew it was going to be hard.
“I played really well to win my semi-final and final 3-0.”
The evergreen 40-year-old said the tournament held a special place in her heart.
“As an Australian, it’s nice to be national champion,” Grinham said.
“I haven’t had the chance to win it that often in my career because I’ve been based overseas for most of it and it hasn’t been financially viable to play in it.”
Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng proved too strong for Queensland’s Joshua Larkin in the men’s final.
The third seed won in straight sets, 13-11, 11-6, 11-9, in a replay of the 2016 NT Open.
Both players came off fiveset semi-final matches.
Larkin beat best mate and Territorian Rhys Dowling, while Ng defeated first seed Rex Hendrick.
It was Ng who had the most energy and got the better of the crunch moments.
“Last time I played Josh (in Darwin) it finished 3-2, so I knew it was going to be 50-50,” Ng said.
“It was more a less the same (yesterday). Towards the end, mentally I felt stronger than Josh, I felt physically more confident in myself and that helped a lot.”