Squash: Macree excels to lead English onslaught

Rebecca Macree, the profoundly deaf player who thought she might never be able to travel the world circuits because of her handicap, scored the best win of her career when she beat the world No 7 Heather Wallace, of Canada, to reach the last four of the US Open, but at a cost, writes James Leigh from Philadelphia. The 22-year-old from Essex, who has to lip read what the referee says, came from two games down and saved three match points before winning 3-9, 5-9, 9-7, 10-9, 9-8, but she sustained a groin injury, which wrecked her chances against Cassie Jackman in the semi-finals. The national champion beat her 9-2, 9-2, 9-0 in only 19 minutes. In her quarter-final, Macree made light of her injury to run Wallace into the ground. The Canadian was so tired that she gambled at 8-8 in the final game on a sudden-death finish rather than the more usual two-point conclusion, but she lost when Macree produced a beautiful backhand volley dropshot that hit the side-wall nick and rolled along the floor.