Australian Open rematch as Brown faces King

20-Feb-2010 - Squash Australia

Kasey Brown will play New Zealand’s Joelle King in the semi-finals of the Dayton Open squash tournament in Dayton, Ohio in a rematch of their semi-final clashes at the last two Australian Opens.
Brown reached the final four when she outlasted sixth seeded Canadian Alana Miller 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 13-11 on Friday.
King then upset the tournament’s fourth seed, Denmark’s Line Hansen, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 to move into the semis.
In other matches, Queensland’s Lisa Camilleri struggled early against Sarah Kippax and was never in the hunt as the Englishwoman won in straight games 11-5, 11-1, 11-9 to set up a semi-final against unseeded American Olivia Blatchford.
It is hard to see either Kippax or Blatchford troubling the winner of the first semi-final between the two trans-Tasman rivals.
The top seeded Brown, 24, goes into the clash as the firm favourite after beating her Kiwi rival in three of their four meetings on the women’s tour.
However, the 22-year-old King emerged triumphant the last time they met, at the semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open, and then went on to claim the biggest title of her career when she beat defending champion Annie Au in the final.

Quarter-final results – prefix denotes seeding:

1-Kasey Brown (AUS) bt 6-Alana Miller (CAN) 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 13-11
5-Joelle King (NZL) bt 4-Line Hansen (DEN) 11-4, 11-6, 11-5
3-Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt 7-Lisa Camilleri (AUS) 11-5, 11-1, 11-9
Olivia Blatchford (USA) bt 8-Miranda Ranieri (CAN) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6