Klompenhouwer and Hida chasing for victory

NEW YORK - Therese Klompenhouwer and Orie Hida are the superior leaders after seven rounds in the Open Verhoeven for women. The Dutch lady and the Japanese are the numbers one and two in the rank with twelve match points out of six games.

Orie Hida played a brilliant match against Helga Mitterböck in the third session of the day. The triple Japanese world champion was 17-5 on the lead after nine innings, including a run of eight and finished in sixteen innings (25-6), the best match so far.

Therese Klompenhouwer had a strong final sprint against Namiko Hayashi, the number two of the World championships in Tokyo. The European champion closed her match with a nine run and won 25-9 in 21 innings.

The Dutch player, who won the tournament last year, leads the rank after seven rounds with the maximum points and 0.968 average, ahead of Orie Hida with 0.882.

Su Ah Park, who surprised two favorites in the previous rounds, suffered a bad match and was beaten by Kazumi Hida: 25-19 in 50 innings.

In the last evening round the current world champion Natsumi Higashiuchi faces former world champion Orie Hida, a match that can be decisive for the Japanese players. Therese Klompenhouwer meets Su Ah Park.