Teran Over Grinham In WISPA Silver 20 Boca Final - Olivia Blatchford, Latasha Khan To Quarters  by Elliot Selby

27 June 2011 -Samantha Teran won her 13th and biggest career title this week at the Silver 20 Boca Del Rio International in Veracruz, Mexico, a brand new stop on the tour.

Teran, the 30 year old from Mexico City, delighted the home fans and tournament sponsors when she staged a magnificent comeback to outlast top seed Natalie Grinham in the final.

The main draw had a real international flavour, with nine different nations being represented. All the top eight seeds made it through to the quarter finals without too many problems, although it took Aisling Blake an hour and five games to see off Carmen Lee from Hong Kong.

Onto the quarter finals and it was plain sailing for Joey Chan and Aisling Blake, who scored quick wins. Teran also recorded a straight game win, beating long time rival and tour veteran, Latasha Khan. Top seed Grinham completed the final four with a tough win over American junior Olivia Blatchford. The former world number two, fought back from a game down to subdue the 17 year old in just under an hour.

The semi finals were both high quality matches and the crowd were thoroughly entertained. Mexican favourite Teran was the first to book her place in the final with a hard fought four game win over Chan, ranked only one place lower in the rankings. Grinham followed Teran into the final, once again having to come from a game down, this time to see off Blake after an hour on court.

The dream final was set between the top two seeds. These two had met twice previously and Grinham had won both convincingly. This time things looked to be following suit as Grinham moved two games up. However, Teran, playing in her biggest final and backed by the home crowds dug in and found a way back into the match. In the fifth Grinham looked to be tiring and Teran, sensing this was her opportunity, surged ahead and closed out the match 11-5 after 69 minutes of enthralling squash, much to the delight of the packed out audience.

This was Teran's first title since she won back on home turf at the Harrow Mexican Open back in 2008. It was also her first final since the Macau Open later the same year.

Teran bounced out of the top 20 last month due to some mixed results in the last year. In this form though, she will be looking to get back to her career high of 11.

A great tournament which we look forward to seeing bigger and better next year.

Results:

Final:

[2] S Teran (MEX) bt [1] N Grinham (NED) 7-11 8-11 11-7 11-7 11-5 (69m)

Semi Final:

[1] N Grinham (NED) bt [4] A Blake (IRL) 10-12 11-6 11-6 13-11 (60m)
[2] S Teran (MEX) bt [3] J Chan (HKG) 11-5 7-11 11-7 11-8 (45m)

Quarter Final:

[1] N Grinham (NED) bt [6] O Blatchford (USA) 12-14 11-8 11-6 11-6 (58m)
[4] A Blake (IRL) bt [8] T Serafini (BRA) 11-8 11-2 11-1 (32m)
[3] J Chan (HKG) bt [7] M Van Der Heijden (NED) 11-9 11-5 11-8 (25m)
[2] S Teran (MEX) bt [5] L Khan (USA) 11-2 11-4 11-8 (31m)

1st Round:

[1] N Grinham (NED) bt [Q] S Cornett (CAN) 11-5 11-6 11-2 (22m)
[6] O Blatchford (USA) bt K Heredia (MEX) 11-4 11-3 11-7 (20m)
[4] A Blake (IRL) bt C Lee (HKG) 11-5 11-13 12-10 8-11 11-3 (60m)
[8] T Serafini (BRA) bt [Q] K Urrutia (MEX) 12-10 11-3 12-10 (38m)
[7] M Van Der Heijden (NED) bt I Diaz (MEX) 11-7 11-13 12-10 11-6 (40m)
[3] J Chan (HKG) bt N Hernandez (MEX) 11-6 11-5 11-7 (21m)
[5] L Khan (USA) bt [Q] Y Adel (EGY) 11-8 12-10 11-7 (35m)
[2] S Teran (MEX) bt [Q] L Pomportes (FRA) 11-4 12-10 11-4 (24m)