Natalie seeking love on the court again

[rwilli1]

Natalie seeking love on the court again



2 hours, 35 minutes ago

AMSTERDAM (AFP) - Natalie Grinham, the woman who scripted one of the great sporting love stories by winning three Commonwealth Games gold medals in Melbourne in 2006 whilst on honeymoon, kept on course to add episode two here this weekend.


The second-seeded Australian turned Dutch international again suggested she is in some of the best form of her life with an 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 win over England's Laura Massaro, which carried her the semi-finals of a World Open that is being directed by her husband.

He is Tommy Berden, the former Dutch number one, and Natalie has been trying both to win the title and to help him with the organisation of an impressively presented event - as much as he will let her.

"Have I have discussed the organisation with Tommy? I dictate to him what to do," Grinham said, her answer sounding only slightly humourous.

"Whether he listens is another thing. I try to dictate. But he's done a really good job. I can't complain."

On court her movement was so spectacular, and her focus so ruthless, that there was never much doubt that she would beat an opponent who has worked her way steadily into the top ten in the past year.

Natalie felt comfortable in playing the ball short quite early in the rally, not only because she mostly kept the ball tight to the sidewall, but because her speed was so blistering she could almost always cover an attempt by Massaro to apply pressure from it.

Then Grinham would jerk her opponent to the back, keep her moving, and sometimes even get her running like a toy on a string.

"I feel really good, the best I have felt since winning the Seoul tournament," said Grinham referring to the 2007 Korean event in which she beat Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia.

Massaro thought so too. "That's definitely the best she's ever played against me - and I'm not playing poorly. In fact I don't think I've been beaten three-love for a long time."

It made possible the 23rd meeting between the two of the most famous sisters in world sport, because an hour later the elder sibling Rachael Grinham, the 2007 World Open champion in Madrid, also won through.

The 33-year-old did so by coming back from two games down for the second successive day. On Thursday Rachael had done that to get past another former world champion Vanessa Atkinson, and now she did it against her one-time regular sparring partner Omneya Abdel Kawy.

The third-seeded Australian, who till recently lived near Cairo, beat the sixth-seeded Egyptian by 6-11, 7-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-8, this time also trailing in the final game, by 4-5, before her survival instincts dragged her through.

"I'm really not doing this in purpose," joked Grinham. "In the third game I started to get my lobs in a bit better, and then after that she started to tire and errors started to come."

Rachael had seemed quite relaxed, even when defeat looked likely. She was even more laid back about the prospect of playing a younger sister who looks to be in some of the best form of her career.

"Obviously it's great to know that at least one of us is going to be in the final, she said. "At least now I am relaxed and enjoying it. So if I lose it's not completely bad."