Wee draws the Line in S'pore Masters

For a second consecutive night, Line Hansen was involved in a five-gamer but this time she emerged on the wrong side of the result.

Instead, it was Sharon Wee of Malaysia who made it through to the Main Draw of the CIMB Singapore Women's Masters 2009.

Qualifying Round 2 was always going to be tense with the winners going through to the Big Dance. And the action at the Kallang Squash Centre was frenetic.

World no 17 Samantha Teran got the ball rolling by defeating Aisling Blake. But the straight games win for the Mexican belied the fact it was a very close tussle that ran 43 minutes. Teran prevailed 13-11, 11-8, 12-10, and will play World No 1 Nicol David in the Main Draw.

Next to win a place in the Main competition was Australia's Donna Urquhart who upended a higher-ranked opponent in Englishwoman Sarah Kippax. A late surge by Kippax was not enough to prevent her from going down 11-3, 11-4, 11-9. Urquhart lines up against Malaysian Open runner-up Alison Waters.

Then came the five-game thriller between Hansen and Wee, and what a contrast in styles. Hansen's power game worked a treat in the opening game, with an easy 11-3 win. But back came Wee who started mixing up her shots, taking the ball high, and making effective use of the back court volley drop. And she levelled the match at one-game each.

The pair traded the next two games to take the match to a decider. Hansen shot to an early 3-0 lead only to see Wee coming back. And after looking tired in game four, Wee found her second wind to seize a decisive lead at 8-7. And she went on to win 11-8 and Hansen's composure frayed.

It was easily the quality match of the evening and afterwards,

A relieved Wee, who will meet Rachel Grinham in the Main Draw, said: "Line's tough to play, and I knew I needed to start playing the trickier shots. The risk paid off and I'm glad I'm through to the Main Draw. I felt I wanted it a bit more tonight and I hope the draw will be kind to me."

Match 4 was also close affair as rising star Joey Chan of Hong Kong gave a fright to Malaysia's Delia Arnold who's ranked 13 places above her. Chan took the first game 11-9 but Arnold came back to take the next two 11-6, 11-7.

Chan fought back to take the fourth game 11-9 to force the decider. But the Hong Konger ran out of steam, giving away cheap points with unforced errors while Arnold stayed steady to win 11-7 and earn a meeting with World no 9 Laura Lengthorn-Massaro in the Main Draw.

Said Arnold: "My past matches with Joey have always been close affairs. I am dead tired after this match. But I'm really looking forward to meeting Laura whom I've never played before. I hope to put up a good show and and learn as much as I can from the experience of playing a world top ten player."