Squash/Irish Women's Open: Her professional squash career might have been interrupted last year by a collision with a stray surfboard while swimming off the coast of Cornwall, one that left her nursing a broken jaw, but Irish champion Madeline Perry has put her off-court woes behind her to resume her pursuit of a place in the top 10 of the world rankings.
Her resilience, though, was fully tested in the first round of the Nivea Irish Open at Fitzwilliam last night.
Perry, seeded seventh in the tournament, eventually overcame the challenge of England's Alison Waters in the first round to move into today's quarter-finals - victory there and the 27-year-old native of Banbridge, Co Down, would edge ever closer to that coveted placing in the world's top 10.
Waters, though, threatened to spoil Perry's "homecoming", battling back from a two-set deficit to level the tie, before losing the decider 7-9.
Perry powered her way to a two-game lead (9-4, 9-5), but a complete lapse in concentration allowed Waters back into the tie, with the English woman, ranked 24th in the world, benefiting from Perry's error-strewn third and fourth games, which she lost 7-9, 1-9.
Perry regained her focus, however, in a tense fifth game, upping the pace to take a 6-4 and, then, an 8-5 lead, holding off Waters's plucky challenge to take the deciding game 9-7.
Perry, now based in Halifax, climbed into the top 20 of the world rankings this time last year and has since risen to 16, boosted by her showing at February's Malaysian Open, where she reached the last eight, before losing in four sets to the world number eight Nicol David (seeded four in Fitzwilliam this week).
Last-16 placings in Kuwait and Qatar this season, where she only lost out to top-ranked players Natalie Grainger (fourth in the world rankings) and Rebecca Macree (nine) helped bolster her ambition to break into the top 10. She remains hopeful of reaching that target, but could do without scares like the one provided by Waters last night.
Defending Irish Open champion Vanessa Atkinson, the woman who beat Perry in the quarter-finals of last year's tournament, which was the first Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) ranking event held in Ireland since 1991, also advanced to the last eight, beating England's Dominique Lloyd-Walter in straight games last night.
Atkinson, the Newcastle-born top seed who represents Holland, will play Stephanie Brind in the last eight after the sixth seed disposed of Dutch woman Annelize Naude in straight games last night, while second seed Natalie Grinham (Australia) was also untroubled by England's Vicky Lankester, winning 3-0.
Grinham next plays Rebecca Macree (England) after the fifth seed's 3-0 win over Wales's Tegwen Malik, conqueror of Irish number two Aisling Blake in the qualifiers.
Jenny Tranfield (England) will meet Diane Desira (Australia) in the quarter-finals - Desira beat compatriot Amelia Pittock in straight games last night.
IRISH OPEN (at Fitzwilliam): First round: S Brind (Eng, 6) bt A Naude (Holl) 9-4, 9-7, 9-1; R Macree (Eng, 5) bt T Malik (Wales) 8-10, 9-3, 10-8, 9-3; J Tranfield (Eng, 8) bt S Wee (Mal) 7-9, 9-1, 9-1; D Desira (Aus) bt A Pittock (Aus) 9-6, 9-5, 9-2; N Grinham (Aus, 2) bt V Lankester (Eng) 9-7, 9-2, 9-1; M Perry (Ire, 7) bt A Waters (Eng) 9-4, 9-5, 7-9, 1-9, 9-7; V Atkinson (Holl, 1) bt D Lloyd-Walter (Eng) 9-7, 9-4, 9-0.
