Volkswagen Australian Open: Dowling and Grinham Victorious

After two very differing finals, Rhys Dowling and Rachael Grinham have claimed the titles at the Volkswagen Australian Open, held at the Bega Country Club in New South Wales.

Dowling, the No.4 seed for the tournament, defeated top seed Joseph White in the men’s final, taking just 32 minutes to win the second title of his career, and the first for three and a half years. Compared to that, former World No.1 Rachael Grinham had to counter a wonderful comeback from No.3 seed Jessica Turnbull to win the women’s final in a deciding fifth game.

The 25-year-old Dowling had already taken out No.5 seed Rohan Toole and No.2 seed Nicholas Calvert en route to the final, dropping just a single game throughout the tournament, with that coming in a 3-1 win against the former in the quarter-finals.

Grinham, on the other hand, was yet to drop a game before the final, having defeated Jessica Osborne and Selena Sheikh. She then took a two-game lead against Jessica Turnbull in the final, but it wasn’t to be smooth sailing.

The World No.66 fought her way back into the contest, winning both the third and the fourth games to level the match at 2-2. She held the momentum going into the deciding fifth salvo, but the 44-year-old Grinham was able to hold her compatriot off, taking that decider to win the 36th title of her illustrious career.

Results: Volkswagen Australian Open
Men’s Final
[4] Rhys Dowling (AUS) bt [1] Joseph White (AUS): 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (32m)

Women’s Final
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [3] Jessica Turnbull (AUS) 3-2: 15-13, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8 (50m)

Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bt [3] Thomas Calvert (AUS) 3-2: 6-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (58m)
[4] Rhys Dowling (AUS0 bt [2] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 (39m)

Women’s Semi-Finals
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [4] Selena Sheikh (AUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (20m)
[3] Jessica Turnbull (AUS) bt [2] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (28m)

Men’s Quarter-Finals
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bt [7] Javed Ali (AUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 2-0 rtd (22m)
[3] Thomas Calvert (AUS) bt Peter Vaughan (AUS) 3-1: 11-6, 3-11, 11-2, 11-6 (40m)
[4] Rhys Dowling (AUS) bt [5] Rohan Toole (AUS) 3-1: 11-2, 5-11, 11-2, 11-5 (31m)
[2] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) bt [8] Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-1, 14-12 (56m)

Women’s Quarter-Finals
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [6] Jessica Osborne (AUS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 (22m)
[4] Selena Sheikh (AUS) bt Hannelize Human (RSA) 3-1: 9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-7 (34m)
[3] Jessica Turnbull (AUS) bt [5] Alex Haydon (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (24m)
[2] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) bt [8] Tamika Hunt (AUS) 3-1: 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 13-11 (45m)

Men’s Round One
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bt Mark Caravan (AUS) 3-0: 11-0, 11-6, 11-1 (15m)
[7] Javed Ali (AUS) bt Corey Bedingfield (AUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (24m)
Peter Vaughan (AUS) bt [6] Benjamin Ratcliffe (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 (31m)
[3] Thomas Calvert (AUS) bt Tate Zak Norris (RSA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 (27m)
[4] Rhys Dowling (AUS) bt Mansoor Zaman (AUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-7 (22m)
[5] Rohan Toole (AUS) bt Declan Smith (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (16m)
[8] Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) bt Robert Palmer (AUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (29m)
[2] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) bt Aidan Harkes (AUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 (22m)

Women’s Round One
Hannelize Human (RSA) bt [7] Kate Winters (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (21m)
[8] Tamika Hunt (AUS) bt Remashree Muniandy (AUS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 (23m)