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17-Oct, Semis:
Finals day at Fitz
Dan Zilic reports
As I said yesterday, there is an Irish Grand Prix event going on the
same time as the PSA event, so there were still a few matches to be
played in the run-up to the grand final between Henrik Mustonen of
Finland and Sean Le Roux of England.
So we saw Senga MacFie of Scotland take on Northern Ireland's
Tanya Owens in the women's finals and Derek Ryan was
to take on Arthur Gaskin in an All-Irish final in the men's
A-draw. With so much great Squash to look forward to I decided to
order an ice-cold Guinness from Fitz' friendly bar-staff.
Scottish victory in women's A-event
With a twenty minute delay the women took to court and after an
entertaining 35 minutes Senga MacFie left the court as the 3:1
winner. Tanya caused her some problems with her front-court kill
shots but in the end Senga showed why she used to be a top twenty
WISPA player, playing a better length and outplaying Tanya as soon
as her length got loose.
Gaskin makes it three in a row
Arthur Gaskin overcame Derek Ryan in the men's finals and this was
already the third time the two played each other this season. Arthur
had won their previous encounters 3:2 and 3:0. While Derek, the
newly crowned over 40s World Champion, still has one of the most
interesting styles of play to watch, he had trouble competing with
Arthur's high-paced game. It may have still gotten interesting if
Derek had won the tie-break in the third game, but a no-let against
him at 10:11 down buried all hopes.
Marathon man Mustonen marches to title
After having a quick chat with Mustonen before the finals it turns
out that he had played Le Roux previously. He said it was his first
PSA event and the older Le Roux beat him 3:0 back then, but Mustonen
said he was hoping he could change things around this time around.
The Finn also told me that he wasn't all that tired after
yesterday's match but had hoped that Le Roux would have had a bit of
a firmer test in the semis. Both players won their matches 3:0
yesterday, but Mustonen took 58 minutes to win his whereas Le Roux
spent less than 30 minutes on court. Interestingly Mustonen also
told me that he felt slightly lucky that Bianchetti wasn't a player
who would step up from his normal pace at times, which allowed
Mustonen to hang in there.
Anyway, play got underway and the crowd pretty quickly realised what
the difference between the men's A-final and the PSA-final was:
pace. The two young men started with a relentless pace, which in the
beginning seemed to favour Mustonen. After a few rallies Le Roux
began to put pressure on Mustonen by playing to the front backhand
corner whenever rallying on the backhand side. At this point Le Roux
was dominating the T and once again mixing power with cleverly
delayed and weighted shots. Mustonen was always in the game but Le
Roux kept his lead and won 11:9.
Game two was similarly close and Mustonen was in stark danger of
going down 11:9 again, but at 9:10 down he played a courageous
backhand cross-court nick off Le Roux's serve. He was rewarded for
his bravery and took the game 12:10 in the tie-break.
At 6:2 up in the third it looked like Le Roux might be able to
impose himself on the young Finn but Mustonen countered with a
series of delightful winners. The game was really tense and Le Roux
received a conduct warning for continually disagreeing with some of
the referee's decisions - mainly about whether or not Mustonen's
pick-up were okay or not. The match though was played in good
spirits and there was a bit of banter between the players and both
appreciated each other's skill. This time though it was Mustonen's
turn to lose in the tie-break, which Le Roux won emphatically with a
thumping cross-court nick from mid-court.
The momentum did not stay with Le Roux though as he went to lose
game four in minutes - there was a monster rally at 2:2 that seemed
to take the wind out of Sean's sails.
Game five was evenly matched until 4:4. Mustonen was awarded a
stroke when Le Roux was trapped in the back corner - a slightly
harsh decision as Mustonen had let the ball bounce against the
backwall, but it certainly wasn't outrageous. In any case, Le Roux
interpreted this as the icing on top of the cake as he felt that
most decisions had been going against him, and unfortunately he hit
four or five quick tins which sealed victory for Henrik Mustonen.
Certainly a deserved winner and I'd say a winner who had put in more
mileage than any other winner before!
And that sums up this year's Leinster Open - once again a fantastic
event thanks to Derek Ryan, Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club
and many other people helping out.
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 Leinster
Open 2010
12-17 Oct, Dublin, Ireland, $6k |
Round One
14 Oct |
Quarters
15 Oct |
Semis
16 Oct |
Final
17 Oct |
[1] Davide Bianchetti (Ita)
11/6 11/7 11/8
Reiko Peter (Sui) |
[1] Davide Bianchetti
11/7 11/8 11/4 (47 m)
Andrea Torricini |
[1] Davide Bianchetti
15-13 11-5 11-9 (58m)
[3] Henrik Mustonen |
[3] Henrik Mustonen
9-11 12-10 12-14 11-2 11-4 (71 min)
[2] Shaun Le Roux |
[7] Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
11/9 11/7 6/11 9/11 13/11
Andrea Torricini (Ita) |
[3] Henrik Mustonen (Fin)
11/4 11/3 11/2
[Q] Rory Pennell (Eng) |
[3] Henrik Mustonen
12/10 9/11 11/6 17/15 (52m)
[Q] Andrew Birks |
[8] Aqeel Rehman (Aut)
11/9 10/12 13/11 11/5
[Q] Andrew Birks (Eng) |
Ido Avron (Isr)
11/6 11/3 11/6
[6] Jethro Binns (Wal) |
[6] Jethro Binns
11/8 7/11 8/11 11/4 11/4 (63 m)
[Q] Mark Fuller |
[6] Jethro Binns
11-4 11-5 11-6 (2m9)
[2] Shaun Le Roux |
[Q] Mark Fuller (Eng)
3/11 3/11 11/4 11/4 11/6
[4] Leandro Romiglio (Esp) |
[Q] Jonny Harford (Eng)
11/9 13/11 11/9
[5] Alejandro Garbi (Esp) |
[Q] Jonny Harford
11/5 11/8 8/11 8/11 11/8 (87 m)
[2] Shaun Le Roux |
Niall Rooney (Irl)
11/2 11/3 11/7
[2] Shaun Le Roux (Eng) |
Qualifying Finals:
John Harford (Eng) beat
Robert Downer (Eng)
11/7 11/5 11/5
Andrew Birks (Eng) beat Matias Tuomi (Fin) 11/0,
12/14, 9/11, 11/6, 11/9
Mark Fuller (Eng) beat Lucas Serme (Fra)
7/11, 7/11, 11/2, 12/10, 11/4
Rory Pennell (Eng) beat Adam Fuller (Eng)
4/11, 11/8, 9/11, 11/9, 11/4
Qualifying Round One:
Jonathan Harford (Eng) w/o
Robert Downer (Eng) bt Sean Conroy (Ire)
11/6, 11/6, 11/6
Andrew Birks (Eng) bt Nigel Peyton (Ire)
4/11, 11/2, 11/6, 11/2
Matias Tuomi (Fin) bt Richard Birks (Eng) 12/10,
14/12, 4/11, 11/4
Mark Fuller (Eng) bt Kevin Moran (Sco)
13/11, 11/6, 11/2
Lucas Serme (Fra) bt Rory Byrne (Ire)
11/8, 11/4, 11/3
Adam Fuller (Eng) bt Alex Benassi (Bel)
13/11, 11/7, 11/5
Rory Pennell (Eng) bt Keith Moran (Ire)
8/11, 11/4, 11/1, 11/9
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16-Oct, Semis:
Semi-finals at Fitz
Dan Zilic reports
Unfortunately I missed yesterday's matches - two of which went the
whole distance (Le Roux beat Harford/Binns beat Fuller in five), one
which featured a pretty epic tie-break (Mustonen beat Birks 17:15 in
the fourth to win the match 3:1), and one between the two stylish
Italians (Bianchetti beat Torricini 3:0).
Mustonen outruns Bianchetti
Anyway, I was looking forward to today's semis, especially between
Bianchetti and Mustonen. Bianchetti, as the number one seed, would
be the favourite of course going into the match, but in my opinion
Bianchetti's excellent distribution would make for an interesting
match against Mustonen's astounding court coverage.
Play between the two began at 5pm on center court. It slowly filled
up with on-lookers, especially fellow Squash players participating
in the Leinster Open Irish Grand Prix event - which itself has some
formidable players (I can say this since I decided not to play this
time round ;). Arthur Gaskin and Derek Ryan are top seed in the
men's event and are facing the Niall Rooney and the entertaining
Graeme Stewart in the semis, while in the women's event Tanya Owens
is playing Scotland's Senga MacFie in the finals.
Participants from the squash tournament would have done well to come
and watch Davide Bianchetti on court, since he was, at times, giving
a master class in clever squash. Mustonen is incredibly fast and
Bianchetti tried to contain him with tight lengths and drops. The
brilliant thing about his game though is how he virtually plays a
hold on every shot leaving Mustonen on his toes at all time.
This resulted in Mustonen doing the bulk of the running, but
unfortunately for Bianchetti Mustonen seemed to thrive on this and
kept annoying the Italian with some brilliantly played boasts that
left Bianchetti flat-footed. After a slow start from Bianchetti
things got really interesting and the first game took over 25
minutes, ending in Mustonen winning it 13:11 in the first.
At that time Bianchetti was lecturing the referee after some
controversial calls, but both players were at the end of these.
After the energy-sapping first game we were interested to see how
Mustonen would fair in the second game and while he did appear to
make a few more errors than before, Bianchetti, currently #43 in the
world, was keeping him in the game with some cheap errors. And these
proved costly since Mustonen just kept on retrieving relentlessly
and won game two 11:6.
Bianchetti seemed dispirited after that and his arguments with the
referee did not help his cause. The third game continued like the
second and Mustonen found himself 10:6 up when Bianchetti staged a
mini comeback to 9:10. After three let balls though Mustonen wrapped
things up to score what must have been one of his biggest upsets
yet.
I thoroughly enjoyed this match and despite losing three love,
Bianchetti was so impressive in his Squash intelligence. The one
thing though which he really lacked was a killer instict. He moved
Mustonen around brilliantly but he lacked the finishing shot today.
While many other opponents would have flattered after the physical
toll of the first game, Mustonen showed no real signs of fatigue and
kept going, and more importantly, finished the rallies off when he
had the chance.
Le Roux crushes Binns
The second match was a slight anti-climax. Le Roux was always in
command against Welshman Jethro Binns and will have been happy to
have saved some energy for tomorrow's finals.
I only saw Le Roux play five years ago and was impressed by what I
saw today. He has a strong physical presence on court and mixes
delightfully feathered backhand drop-shots and fading lenghts, with
some hardcore killshots.
This was too much for Binns today who won't have been happy with his
showing. He retrieved well at times and threw in a few cross-court
kills of his own, but his error count was far too high.
Tomorrow's finals: England versus Finland
So we have Henrik Mustonen in the finals again and this time I give
him a good chance of winning. Last time round he faced Steve
Coppinger, whom he described as the worst person to play on the day.
Le Roux looks like a tough player to crack though himself and so I
expect this one to be a tight affair - but that is what you expect
of the third playing the second seed.
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14-Oct, Round One:
Leinster Open back on in "Fitz"
Dan Zilic reports
As every year I got to watch a few first round matches of the
Leinster Open in Dublin, Ireland, held as always in the
prestigious Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. Organised, once
again, by Irish squash legend Derek Ryan himself!
Davide Bianchetti is the top-seed and he has been over a good
few times, though normally we see him in the larger Irish Open as
one of the top five seeds. Local interest is present thanks to
Arthur Gaskin, the number seven seed, as well as Niall Rooney,
who was given this year's wildcard. We did have four locals in the
qualifying but all four hopefuls lost in the first round (of
qualifying), though all gave good accounts, first and foremost
Sean Conroy, an Irish sixteen year-old, who I am sure we will
see in the event's main draw in years to come. The most prominent
qualifier in this year was Englishman Jonny Harford, who
actually won the event back in 2007. You might notice the absence of
John Rooney, the well-liked and talented Irishman. John has recently
moved State-side and is full-time coaching (so I am told).
Harford second qualifier through to quarters
It was Harford's first round game (after getting through qualifying)
that I got to see. Now normally a former winner shouldn't be finding
himself in the event's qualifying draw, but Harford was long-time
injured and is still trying to get back to the same heights he used
to be.
He was up against the number five seed - Alejandro Garbi from
Spain - who had visited Ireland (actually both had) earlier this
year playing in the Galway Open. Garbi, with his high-paced game and
good court-coverage, started the better taking a commanding 7:2 lead
and Harford looked a bit dazzled. He settled in a little, Garbi made
a few more mistakes, and somehow Harford had turned the game around
from 2:7 and 7:9 down, winning it 11:9.
Now at 2:7 in the first against Harford I was pretty sure he'd lose,
but winning that first game changed the momentum in Harford's favour
and he won the second game in the tie-break. At first it looked like
Garbi had resigned after going for cheap shots off the serve, but in
the end he was unlucky to lose the game.
In the third Harford wrapped things up and he will be happy to have
finished this in three - it definitely didn't feel like a 3:0. In
the end his good movement and slightly better weight and variation
were enough to beat Garbi's front-court attacking game. He seemed to
have slight troubles with his calfs and demanded some ice when he
dived back court for a ball, but all in all Harford once again
adapted well to his opponent and deservedly won.
Torricini spoils local hopes
While the Spaniard and Englishman were battling it out, local
favourite and number seven seed Arthur Gaskin and Andrea
Torricini were playing on center court. I arrived to see Gaskin
take game four and force a fifth game. Much to the delight of the
home crowd it looked like Gaskin was going to win it after
establishing a 5:0 or so lead, but Torricini, a very mobile,
long-haired and mustachioed customer, was retrieving relentlessly.
Gaskin was tiring by the second and incredibly wasn't able to finish
the match at 10:6. In the tie-break there was, what will probably
be, the rally of the tournament. Toriccini dived twice to pick some
seemingly dead balls up and the rally must have lasted close to two
minutes. By the end of it Gaskin was moving like a bruised boxer and
again wasn't able to convert matchball at 11:10.
After winning this monumental rally Torricini then hit the ball out
of court in a crazy cork-screw boast attempt - Davide Bianchetti
turned around in disbelief! But the Italian was relieved when his
countryman took the game 13:11 and closed out a tight encounter.
Birks makes it 75% for qualifiers
Last matches of the day were Shaun Le Roux versus Niall
Rooney and Aqeel Rehman against Andrew Birks.
I watched the Austrian play (German-speakers stick together) a tough
match against the talented Birks and there wasn't much between the
two. Birks clearly distributes the ball very well when he has time,
whereas Rehman relies on his speed and hard and flat kill shots.
Birks took game one and was up in the second, but Rehman battled
back to sneak it. It was a patchy game with each player taking
several points in a row, only to concede the next three or four. No
more so was this evident than in game three, where Rehman took a 4:0
lead, then went down 7:10, forcing a close tie-break and then losing
it with two quick mistakes.
The third, as so often was the decider and Birks took the fourth
11:5.
All-Italian encounter on Friday
Tomorrow's matches sees an all Italian encounter between Bianchetti
and Torricini, while Mustonen (who so impressed us last year, will
be fancied to beat qualifier Birks. Mark Fuller, who will be happy
to have beaten fourth seed Leandro Romiglio in five, takes on the
smooth-playing Le Roux.
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