24-Apr, Finals

[1] Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 3/0 [4] Alexandra Fuller (Rsa)
           11/6, 11/8, 11/6

Mazen Gamal (Egy) 3-2 [1] Angus Gillams (Eng)
          11/9, 11/13, 6/11, 12/10, 12/10 (86m)

The finals of both the men’s and women’s Balwin / Assore Central Gauteng Open Squash Championships events took place today.

First up was Siyoli Waters against fellow team mate and training partner Alex Fuller.

Waters took control early in the match and played an attacking game putting Fuller under extreme pressure. As Waters commented after her match she knew that she had to start well and ensure that she used her game plan first.

“Alex is very competitive and if she is given any leeway in a match she takes full advantage of it. I had to get in early and take control of the match”.

Of the tournament Waters congratulated Central Gauteng on once again hosting the Central Gauteng Open and a well run event.

“It is fantastic for players to play in their home country and get world ranking points for doing so. The sponsorship of Balwin / Assore makes the tournament a great event and without these kind of sponsor’s such events could not take place.

"It was wonderful to see so many juniors playing in this event and getting the exposure to the international players. Hopefully some of them will be able to follow in the footsteps of the international players they have seen playing here this week. I am looking forward to going to Cape Town to play in my home town and from there I will be going to hopefully make it into the British Open in May. “

The men's final saw Angus Gilliams from England take on Mazen Gamal from Egypt.

The match was closely contested by both players with neither giving away easy points. Once again Gilliams allowed the decision making of the referees to influence his game plan and after having match ball in the fourth game lost the 5th 10-12.

Gamal kept his cool throughout the match and was very focused. He used his opponents emotions to his advantage and fought all the way to the end of the match.

As Gamal said: “The match was extremely hard and closely contested. Angus is a very good player but I just wanted to win so badly.

"I have not being playing on the circuit for the last three years as I completed my military training and mechanical engineering degree. I am trying really hard to get back into the top 100 and knew that I needed this win tonight.

"Angus had two match balls against me in the 4th and 5th games but I knew if I just hung in there I had a chance and eventually it turned in my favour.

"I would like to thank all the people in Johannesburg especially my hosts for making me feel so welcome and everyone has been so friendly. I am looking forward to going to Cape Town for the first time and hope to do well there.

"I really appreciate all the support and help all my friends in Cairo have given me and wish they could have been with me tonight to celebrate my win. The tournament has been of the highest quality and I will definitely be back again.”
 

11/6, 11/2, 11/5 (25m)

Chris Hall

11/9, 11/13, 6/11, 12/10, 12/10 (86m)

Mazen Gamal

11/4, 5/11, 12/10, 11/2 (65m)

[2] Christo Potgieter

20 Apr, Round One:

[1] Angus Gillams (Eng) 3-0 [LL] Dylan Groenwald (Rsa)             11/5, 11/8, 11/5 (27m)
Josh Taylor (Eng) 3-0 [Q] Grant Viljoen (Rsa)                             11/4, 11/6, 11/3 (29m)
Gareth Naidoo (Rsa) 3-1 Julian Tomlinson (Eng)                  11/6, 11/7, 6/11, 11/3 (53m)
[Q] Devon Hendrickse (Rsa) 3-1 [7] Anthony Graham (Egy) 6/11, 11/2, 11/8, 11/5 (57m)

[6] Joe Green (Eng) 3-0 [Q] Wayne Sithole (Rsa)               7/11, 11/3, 11/6, 11/4 (35m)
Chris Hall (Eng) 3-0 Ruan Oliver (Rsa)                                        11/8, 11/3, 11/6 (25m)
Omar Baghat (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Zwele Makgalemele (Rsa)               11/4, 15/13, 11/9 (25m)
[3] Thoboki Mohoholo (Rsa) 3-0 [Q] Kelvin Ndlovu (Rsa) 11/7,8/11,5/11,11/8,11/7 (71m)

Mazen Gamal (Egy) 3- [4] Manoel Pereira (Rsa)                11/6, 8/11, 11/5, 11/0 (49m)
[Q] Lawrence Kuhn (Rsa) 3-1 Diego Gobbi (Bra)                11/7, 11/3, 5/11, 11/5 (45m)
[Q] Nell van der Merwe (Rsa) 3-2 Ben Coates (Eng)  11/4, 4/11, 8/11, 11/8, 11/3 (27m)
[5] Jean-Pierre Brits (Rsa) 3-0 Juan Pablo Roude (Arg)              11/3, 11/8, 11/9 (37m)

[8] Jon Geekie (Sco) 3-0 [LL] Ian Sturgeon (Rsa)                      11/4, 11/5, 11/4 (21m)
[Q] Mike Toothill (Rsa) 3-0 Kyle Maree (Rsa)                            11/7, 14/12, 11/4 (45m)
[LL] Sylvester Mabote (Rsa) w/o Ayk Avetisyan (Arm)
[2] Christo Potgieter (Rsa) w/o Sergey Grigoryan (Arm)

Qualifying Round Two:

Kelvin Ndlovu (RSA) vs Dylan Groenewald (RSA) - 3/0 11/5, 11/4, 11/4 (34min)
Rudi Willemse (RSA) vs Devon Hendrikse (RSA) - 0/3 8/11, 9/11, 4/11 (43min)
Ian Sturgeon (RSA) vs Grant Viljoen (RSA) - 0/3 6/11, 8/11, 6/11 (30min)
Nell van der Merwe(RSA)vs Jarryd Carter (RSA - 3/0 11/6, 11/8, 11/7 (27min)
Mike Tootill (RSA) vs Zuko Kubukeli (RSA) - 3/2 11/9, 11/8, 9/11, 7/11, 11/9 (62min)
Wayne Sithole (RSA) vs Ray Dlamini (RSA) - 3/0 11/3, 11/7, 11/1 (20min)
Sylvester Mabote(RSA) vs Zwelle Makgalemele(RSA) - 0/3 9/11, 2/11, 7/11 (25min)
Lawrence Kuhn (RSA) vs Khaled Zahran (EGY) - 3/0 walk over Lawrence Kuhn

Qualifying Round One: (RSA unless otherwise denoted):

D Groenewald bt D Savage 11-4 1-6 11-4, R Willemse bt R Wallis 11-2 11-9 11-4, D Hendrickse bt J Rocher 11-3 11-6 11-4, I Sturgeon bt M Clayton 11-8 12-14 9-11 11-5 11-7, G Viljoen w/o L Ndlovu, N van der Merwe bt S Ncube 11-7 11-5 11-2, J Carter bt G Woodward 11-6 11-7 11-8, M Tootill bt C Ndebele 117 11-9 11-6, Z Kbukeli bt R Sinyadiwo 11-4 11-6 11-5, w Sithole bt S Gqibani 7-11 8-11 11-5 11-2 11-1, R Dlamini w/o R Simbule, S Mabote w/o P Mhlanga, Z Makgalemele bt H Schoeman 12-10 11-9 11-8, L Kuhn bt M Ntuli 11-8 11-13, 11-13 11-9 11-5.

Women's Qualifying:
Judy Usher (RSA) vs Bongi Seroto (RSA) - 3/2 5/11, 11/8, 11/2, 8/11, 11/9
Comfort Shaba vs Janice Harmse (RSA) - 0/3 walk over Janice Harmse
Nono Sekhoto vs Bye - 3/0 Nono Sekhoto
Mariska Wiese (RSA) vs Mikaila Westmoreland (RSA) - 3/0 11/5, 11/4, 11/6 (17min)
Panashe Sithole (RSA) vs Jamie Leslie (RSA) - 3/1 11/6, 9/11, 11/8, 11/3 (30min)
Bye vs Michelle Kohne - 0/3 Michelle Kohne
Makgosi Pelokgosi vs Jemma Dawson - 3/0 11/3, 11/8, 11/4

 9/11, 11/6, 11/3, 11/2 (27m)

[3] Farah Abdel Meguid

11/6, 11/8, 11/6

[4] Alexandra Fuller

5/11, 11/9, 11/6, 7/11, 11/5 (53m)

[2] Cheyna Tucker

Qualifying Finals:

Judy Usher (Rsa) 3-1 Janice Harmse (Rsa)                11/7, 11/8, 3/11, 12/10 (29m)
Mariska Wiese (Rsa) 3-0 Nono Sekhoto                              11/4, 11/7, 11/3 (15m)
Michelle Kohne (Rsa) 3-1 Panashe Sithole (Rsa)        12/10, 11/9, 9/11, 11/6 (34m)
Kacey-Leigh Dodd (Rsa) 3-0 Makgosi Pelokgosi (Rsa)        11/4, 13/11, 11/7 (20m)

Qualifying Round One:
Judy Usher (RSA) vs Bongi Seroto (RSA) - 3/2 5/11, 11/8, 11/2, 8/11, 11/9
Comfort Shaba vs Janice Harmse (RSA) - 0/3 walk over Janice Harmse
Nono Sekhoto vs Bye - 3/0 Nono Sekhoto
Mariska Wiese (RSA) vs Mikaila Westmoreland (RSA) - 3/0 11/5, 11/4, 11/6 (17min)
Panashe Sithole (RSA) vs Jamie Leslie (RSA) - 3/1 11/6, 9/11, 11/8, 11/3 (30min)
Bye vs Michelle Kohne - 0/3 Michelle Kohne
Makgosi Pelokgosi vs Jemma Dawson - 3/0 11/3, 11/8, 11/4

24-Apr, Finals

[1] Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 3/0 [4] Alexandra Fuller (Rsa)
           11/6, 11/8, 11/6

Mazen Gamal (Egy) 3-2 [1] Angus Gillams (Eng)
          11/9, 11/13, 6/11, 12/10, 12/10 (86m)

23-Apr, Semis:

The semi-finals of both the men’s and women’s events took place today.

First up was Siyoli Waters against Farah Abdel Meguid from Egypt. After being 1 – 0 down Waters came back strongly by attacking the ball and hitting a good length. Meguid succumbed easily in the third and fourth getting a total of only 5 points.

Chris Hall from England succumbed to fellow country man Angus Gilliams very easily. Gilliams played outstanding squash by taking the ball early and hitting a good length. Gilliams put Hall under too much pressure and Hall was constantly playing catch-up and defensive squash, he never got a chance to dominate the “T”.

In the other ladies semi-final Alex Fuller and Cheyna Tucker entertained the crowd with some good squash. The match see-sawed between the two ladies where both had games of good disciplined squash.

Eventually Fuller seemed to be the fitter of the two and in the fifth continued to hit the good straight length and then take Tucker short with her boast / drop that had Tucker moving all over the court. Tucker eventually could not get to the balls any longer and went down 5/11.

The last match of the evening was between Mazen Gamal from Egypt and Christo Potgieter.

It was definitely a home crowd advantage for Potgieter who had the crowd enthralled by all his diving and flying around the court. After being 1-1 and 8-4 up in the second Potgieter lost focus of his game plan and Gamal played steady basic squash to come back and win the third 12/10.

Potgieter never really got back into the game and Gamal was focused and determined to ignore all the antics and support from the crowd.
 

In the Men's draw, after being 2-0 up, Angus Gilliam put himself under huge pressure by disagreeing with the referees decisions and lost focus for the next 2 games. His professionalism helped him get back into the game and take the fifth 11/3.

Thoboki Mohohlo played very disciplined squash in the first 2 games against Chris Hall and looked all set to take the match 3-0. Chris Hall showed the crowd that by playing good straight length and keeping the ball deep the fancy shots do not always pay off. His steady play and no errors saw Hall claw his way back into the match and finally defeated Mohohlo 12-10 in the fifth.

The Ladies were playing as well of course, and Alex Fuller was just too fast and accurate for her opponent Hana Essam Khedr from Egypt. From the first rally Fuller took the ball early and was prepared to keep the rallies as long as possible forcing her opponent to make the errors.

Cheyna Tucker was put under extreme pressure by fellow provincial team mate Elani Landman. Landman put Tucker under extreme pressure by putting pace on the ball and forcing Tucker to take the ball out of the back of the court thereby dominating the “T”. After being 2-1 down Tucker seemed to re-focus and turned the table in her favour.

21-Apr, Round Two:

Mike Tootill is in top form this week and once again had a win against the number 8 seed Jon Geekie. Tootill was in complete control of the match and once again his consistent good tight length frustrated the younger Scotsman.

Devon Hendrikse had to pull out all the stops to take a 3-2 win against fellow countryman Gary Naidoo. Both players retrieved exceptionally well and the rallies were long and hard. In the 5th game Naidoo was just too tired to perform at the same level as in the first 3 games.

As for the Ladies, the top seeds had little trouble in the 1st round of the main event. All seeds won their matches within 20mins. The hardest match of the evening was between Alex Fuller and Sacha West. Fuller proved to be too fit for fellow provincial team mate West and after losing the second game took total control of the match.

20-Apr, Round One:
Toothill joins seeds in last sixteen

The first round of the men’s Main Event in the Balwin / Assore Central Gauteng Open took place today.

Most of the top seeds made it through to the next round. One of the main upsets of the evening was Manoel Pereira the number 4 seed going out to Mazan Gamal from Egypt. Gamal played fast attacking squash and kept Pereira under constant pressure. He was just too fast and accurate for Pereira and took the last game 11/0.

Mike Tootill once again entertained the crowd and showed that his years of experience definitely do count against the youngsters. Tootill was consistent with his length and patience and forced Maree to get very frustrated and go for the winners far too early.