Merrien wins all-female clash to move into semis

Saturday 24th July 2010, 2:29PM BST.

Alison Merrien. (Picture by David Rhys-Jones, 0902552)

ALISON MERRIEN won the battle of the only women left in the quarter-finals of the Press Open Singles.

The last remaining female duo in the last eight of the competition – Merrien (pictured) and Gwen de la Mare – were unfortunate to be in the same half of the draw and met at the Corbet Field.

De la Mare started out confidently enough, racing into a 7-2 lead after five ends, but any hope of going further in the competition were dashed by the world rated number two who settled to take eight of the next nine ends.

Merrien went on to win the match 21-10 and keep alive a chance of another female champion, following in Lucy Beere’s footsteps.