Rachael Grinham made history when she faced and then overcame younger sister Natalie, the Commonwealth champion, by 9-4, 10-8, 9-2 to win the World Open title for the first time.
Not only was it the first time that the Australian duo had met in a WISPA Tour final, they were almost certainly only the second pair of sisters in any sport, after tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, to have contested a major final.
Did Rachael feel sorry for Natalie for having denied her the world title?
"No -- she got all three golds at the Commonwealth," she replied, laughing. "We are pleased for the other one when she wins, but at the end of the day, we do want to win."
It was still played in great spirit. Natalie once reversed an incorrect decision by the marker who called down Rachael's deceptively brilliant reverse angle at 7-5 in the second game.
In retrospect, that proved the difference between them in that crucial middle game, which fluctuated fascinatingly, with Natalie leading 6-2, Rachael getting back to lead 8-6, only for Natalie to level at 8-8, before the two pivotal points occurred.
A drop setting up a drive kill, and then a volley drop to a clinging line setting up a volley kill, were the two rallies which gave Rachael a two-game lead. After that her progress accelerated.
"I didn't think -- oh I'm going to lose if I don't get this game, but I concentrated very hard on getting back into it," Rachael said.
She did that by making sure her length was better than Natalie's. This made her slightly the more dominant player, making more of the attacking ploys, mostly starting with a tight ball to the front. In the third game she got completely on top.
The beginning of the end was signaled at 2-1 when a sidewall boast from Natalie faded into the tin. A slide of six points in a row followed, five of them errors from the younger sister.
Nevertheless Natalie had done much to make this one of the better finals.
"To be the first two sisters in the final feels fantastic," Natalie said.
"Not just one of us winning but both being in the final is more of a dream than one of us winning it," she said. "It was almost perfect. It would have been perfect if I'd have won it."
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
Taiwanese “boxing queen” Chen Nien-chin today won the women’s 65kg division final at the Asian Boxing Elite Championships in Ulaanbaatar, securing Taiwan’s first gold medal in that weight class at the tournament. Chen defeated North Korea’s Hwang Hyo Sun 4-1, after the two were tied through the first two rounds. Chen won bronze in the 66kg division at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
RSS