Australia make World Semi-Finals in Nimes!

Picture shows the jubilant Aussie squad (L to R) Rachael Grinham, Sarah Cardwell, Melody Francis, Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Patrick Hermanns, Vicki Cardwell and Donna Urquhart

Australia Make World Semi-Finals In Nimes

Australia pulled off a sensational upset in the quarter-finals of the WSF Women’s World Team Championship in Nimes when former world No1 Rachael Grinham and world No17 Donna Urquhart led the team to a 2/1 win over fourth seeds Hong Kong which takes the sixth seeds into the semi-finals and guarantees future funding for elite squash in the country.

All other quarter-finals went according to the seedings:

[1] ENGLAND bt [7] IRELAND 3/0
Laura Massaro bt Madeline Perry 7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9 (47m)
Alison Waters bt Aisling Blake 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (30m)
Jenny Duncalf bt Breanne Flynn 11-3, 11-2 (11m)

[3] MALAYSIA bt [5] NEW ZEALAND 2/0
Nicol David bt Joelle King 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 (36m)
Low Wee Wern bt Jaclyn Hawkes 11-3, 11-5, 11-13, 11-9 (41m)
Delia Arnold v Amanda Landers-Murphy

[6] AUSTRALIA bt [4] HONG KONG CHINA 2/1
Rachael Grinham bt Annie Au 11-3, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8 (45m)
Donna Urquhart bt Joey Chan 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (27m)
Sarah Cardwell lost to Liu Tsz-Ling 9-11, 11-6, 7-11 (22m)

[2] EGYPT bt [10] INDIA 3/0
Raneem El Weleily bt Dipika Pallikal 16-14, 11-4, 11-7 (31m)
Nour El Sherbini bt Joshana Chinappa 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (26m)
Nour El Tayeb bt Anaka Alankamony 11-6, 11-3 (12m)