Squash: Geaves sweeps into final

Fiona Geaves ensured there would be a new national women's champion and later made it the most notable weekend of her squash life when she reached the final of the SRA English National Championships at the Village, Manchester, writes Richard Eaton.

On Saturday she saved two match points to overcome Sue Wright, the British national champion, in a long, thrilling and often brilliant match, and yesterday she swept aside the young and inexperienced Linda Charman in only 25 minutes for the loss of a mere four points.

Geaves, a 25-year-old England international with plenty of talent, has rarely played so well in beating Wright, by 9-6, 4-9, 1-9,

9-7, 10-8. She will probably have to play even better if she is to beat Cassie Jackman, who wants to become world No 1 this year, in today's final.

However, Jackman's was a surprisingly patchy performance against Suzanne Horner, the fourth seed who has twice been a member of English world title- winning squads, and there were moments during Jackman's 6-9, 10-8, 9-4, 3-9, 9-4 success when two big upsets in two days seemed quite possible.

'I got too anxious and played too many loose shots. I'm just relieved to be through,' Jackman said.