[1] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt [3] Raneem El Weleily (Egy)
        4/9, 9/7, 4/9, 9/7, 9/4 (49m)

Followed by the Amateur finals..

Well, she did it. Top seed and clear favourite Natalie Grainger duly claimed the EBG LA Open title at the LAAC, but what a run she was given by world junior champion Raneem El Weleily.

Natalie was never able to dominate as she had done all week, as Raneem mixed tremendous retrieving with some lovely winners. Natalie dug in though, and started forcing errors from Raneem and she recovered from 2/1 down to win.

A worthy winner and a fine final, much appreciated by the capacity crowd at the LAAC, who will be eagerly looking forward to the next event ...

Grainger survives the
Raneem test ...
Steve Cubbins in LA

Top seed and hot favourite Natalie Grainger had looked awesome in her previous matches this week, powering through the draw and taking absolutely no prisoners.

Those who expected a repeat performance today were to be disappointed, but what they got was a thrilling final, with the young pretender pushing her experienced opponent to the brink.

The pattern was set early as Raneem opened out to 4/0 in the first. Looking cool and unflustered the young Egyptian matched Natalie for retrieving and quickly started to show her fine array of shots.



The tick count (my notes for rallies a player wins, really wins) rose in Raneem's favour as she took the lead and went to 5/0 in the second.

Natalie was starting to impose herself more now, cutting out the loose shots that were giving Raneem the opportunity to put in her drops or volley kills that were winning so many points. Slowly she worked her way back and levelled.

At 3/0 to Natalie in the third it looked as though the match might have swung, but just when Natalie thought she could relax, Raneem's magic returned. Smaller and nimbler than her opponent, the world junior champion was racing around court, often doing the splits on her retrievals, and picking off those winners again.

Another swing as Raneem took a 2/1 lead and carried on to go 4/0 up in the third - how many more twists? As it happened, just one as Natalie picked it up again, and Raneem's error count started to rise.

It was still tight, 4/4, 5/5, 7/7 in the fourth before Natalie took it on a stroke and a tin, and she had to pull back from 2/4 in the decider. Once she had levelled though it was all Natalie, five ticks recorded as however hard Raneem ran her opponent was always there for the next one.

So, the expected end, but not quite as expected. Natalie now prepares for the Pan-Am Games in Rio while Raneem heads for the World Juniors in Hong Kong. On today's evidence I think I'll be having an accumulator on Betfair ...

“I felt really calm all the way through. I wasn’t thinking of the score at any time, just trying to win each rally, but in the end the errors I hit just killed me.

“The court floors are quite hard and you often find yourself having to take another step and not being in the ideal position for the shot.

“I tried my best, I didn’t have anything more to give out there, and thanks to everyone for a great tournament.”

“I wasn’t very fast today, I’ve been struggling with a cold all week. She got into it very quickly and I wasn’t quite there at the start. She’s very good, very skilful, reads the game well and has great touch.

“I wasn’t firing on all cylinders so I had to dig deep and push through, choosing the right shots and not playing certain shots because I knew I couldn’t cover them. A lot of the time I was just hanging in, waiting for her to try something which could be a winner or could give me a break.

“After I won the second I thought I knew what I needed to do but she stepped it up again and just steamrollered me in the third. I had to raise my pace to keep her at bay, I knew that if I worked her hard she could make a batch of errors, so I had to will myself to that higher pace and be ready to go after it when I could.

“It’s been a great week, thanks to all the sponsors and to Bob for putting on another fantastic show.”

9/1, 9/0, 9/6 (27m)

Lauren Briggs

4/9, 9/7, 4/9, 9/7, 9/4 (49m)

Raneem El Weleily

9/4, 9/5, 9/3 (27m)

 Manuela Manetta