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 Manor
Open 2011
16-18 Dec, Ilkeston, England, $4k |
18-Dec:
Prerry prevails
at
the Manor
Pete Goodings reports
So the final has arrived & no-one was tempted to pick an outright
winner here. Sarah-Jane Perry has been in fine form in this
tournament and Tania Bailey has impressed but not been hard pushed
yet. No-one wanted to predict if she could absorb the potential
pressure due to still returning from long-term injury.
The first game set the tempo for the entire match. Some long, hard
rallies & some great winners by both players had the crowd giving
long applauses on almost every point. Bailey managed to grab the
first 11/8 after some fast rallies & excellent pressure play to keep
Perry continually on the move.
In the 2nd Bailey eased off the pace and it was now Perry who seemed
to dictate, Bailey not now hitting quite so deep & Perry reverted to
her customary shot play from some soft opportunities from mid court
to great effect. Sadly the game started to become a physical affair
with let after let being called by both players - their movement
patterns seriously clashing. No-one was entirely at fault and it
wasn’t deliberate on either part, but the frustration for both the
players and the referee was clear for all to see – Perry though
eventually prevailing 11/8.
The rallies see-sawed from here on in and there were only ever 3-4
points between them right up until the end. One would pull away by a
few points, the other would then close the gap. Bailey took the
third, again 11/8 and toughed it out to get all the way to match
ball at 10-9 in the 4th. Bailey was convinced she had won match
after the next hard fought rally with a tight backhand drop, but
Perry was given a controversial let for interference and this
clearly unsettled Bailey. It was Perry though who gathered her
composure first and stepped up taking the next three points in a row
in the tie-break and we were in for a 5th game - it was still
anyone’s to lose.
At the start of the final game Bailey looked out of sorts and
quickly went 4-1 down, her movement looking a little laboured. Perry
then seemed to drop her concentration a little and appeared unaware
that Bailey was labouring with what later turned out to be an injury
she sustained at the end of the 4th. Some more structured rallies
from Perry though soon had Bailey bending over and offered her hand
to concede – choosing not to continue for fear of making the injury
any worse. It is very hard for Squash players to make a decision
such as this when the adrenalin is flowing, often thinking they may
be able to sneak a few winners as they’re so close to the finishing
line but in hind sight it was a brave and sensible decision for
Bailey who can now rest & recover over the Christmas & New Year
break.
A truly sad end to what had been a tremendous physical and mental
battle. Technically not the best match this weekend but definitely
the hardest fought and most competitive. It was a very worthy first
WISPA final at the Manor & one that Perry will be very proud of as
it is her 1st WISPA title - & we’re sure it won’t be long before she
adds to this one.
Well that wraps up a very successful event for us at the Manor –
hopefully helping to put Women’s Squash on the map. Everyone loved
the event, the hospitality and the support from the sponsors, staff
& everyone associated with the event. Plans are already being made
to host the event again next year & we’re obviously hoping to make
it bigger and better.
Thanks for following us and keeping in touch – you’ll be hearing
from us again soon.
Until then have a great Xmas & New Year everyone – bye for now!
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"We both played well in patches, however our movement patterns were
clashing so there were plenty of lets. Tania took the first and
third games, I took the second and then I managed to claw my way
back from match ball down in the 4th to take the game 12-10 and the
match into a deciding 5th game. It was clear from the start of the
5th Tania was struggling and unfortunately after 75 minutes of play
she was forced to retire with a knee injury when I was leading 8-5.
I sincerely hope Tania makes a speedy recovery.
Obviously this is not how I would have liked to have taken my first
title but hopefully it will be the first of many. Now I'm going to
have a week off before getting a good block of training in for the
majority of January. My next block of tournaments will be starting
with the Edinburgh Open right at the end of January.
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 Sage
Solutions Manor Open 2011
The Manor Health & Racquets Club |
Round One
16 Dec |
Quarters
17 Dec |
Semis
17 Dec |
Final
18 Dec |
[1] Birgit Coufal (Aut)
11/8, 11/5, 11/3 (16m)
Heidi Walters (Eng) |
[1] Birgit Coufal
11/8, 8/11, 12/10, 11/7 (40m)
[6] Carrie Ramsey |
[1] Birgit Coufal
11/4, 8/11, 11/4, 11/1 (39m)
[4] Tania Bailey |
[4] Tania Bailey
8/11, 11/8, 8/11, 12/10, 8/5 rtd
(75m)
[2] Sarah-Jane Perry |
[6] Carrie Ramsey (Eng)
11/3, 11/2, 11/6 (22m)
Sophie Lemom (Eng) |
[4] Tania Bailey (Eng)
11/4, 11/7, 11/2 (24m)
Belen Etchechoury (Arg) |
[4] Tania Bailey
11/5, 11/2, 11/4 (22m)
[8] Nada Elkalaawy |
[8] Nada Elkalaawy (Egy)
11/4, 11/8, 11/8 (27m)
Rachel Willmott (Eng) |
Catherine Finlayson (Eng)
11/6, 11/7, 11/3 (20
[7] Laura Hill (Eng) |
[7] Laura Hill
11/6, 11/7, 11/3 (27m)
[3] Lotte Eriksen |
[7] Laura Hill
8/11, 11/6, 11/4, 11/6 (36m)
[2] Sarah-Jane
Perry |
Selina Sinclair (Eng)
11/4, 11/3, 11/4 (25m)
[3] Lotte Eriksen (Nor) |
Julianne Courtice (Eng)
11/3, 11/2, 11/5 (22m)
[5] Chloe Mesic (Fra) |
Julianne Courtice
11/7, 11/7, 14/12 (32m)
[2] Sarah-Jane Perry |
Cheyna Tucker (Rsa)
11/9, 12-10/, 11/4 (29m)
[2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) |
17-Dec:
Semi Finals at
the Manor
Pete Goodings reports
Bailey is Back!
In the 1st of the semi-finals, No. 4 Seed Tania Bailey
stepped onto court against the No.1 Seed Birgit Coufal
looking confident and focused.
 After
the first 5 or 6 rallies it was apparent that Bailey wanted nothing
more than to take the game by the scruff of the neck and dominate
the ‘T’. Conversely, Coufal looked out of sorts during the entire
first game and appeared nervous and tentative, floating the ball
without much purpose. She paid the price and went down quickly in
just 6 minutes.
Bailey buoyed by this apparent lack of purpose by Coufal sprinted
away to a 6-3 lead in what felt like seconds in the 2nd, only to
fall fowl of what seemed a drifting of focus. Coufal saw a glimmer
of hope and gained her composure to straighten the ball up and took
whatever Bailey gave her in the way of unforced errors – which came
all too quickly, Bailey losing the 2nd giving away 4 or 5
unnecessary errors.
In the third however (after what appeared to be a good old talking
to from dad!) Bailey came out of the blocks firing again. Form the
start bailey asserted herself and Coufal only got 7 more points in
the rest of the match. Bailey pounded the ball deep, wide and
accurately to crush any sign of further resistance from Coufal and
even though a few decisions didn’t seem to go in favour of the
Austrian, it was evident that the result was only going one way.
Bailey lost the 2nd rally in the 4th game but this was the only
point she dropped, jumping on anything loose and punishing any weak
length. Bailey is looking strong – it’s going to take a very solid
performance from the other half of the draw to stop her here at the
Manor!
In the 2nd Semi-Final local support was good for the 7th Seed &
Derbyshire Champ Laura Hill. She was up against 2nd Seed
Sarah-Jane Perry and this looked like it could be a very close
call on paper.
 Hill
has never lost to Perry but Perry has recently turned full-time pro
and both girls have yet to drop a game on the route to the semis.
Hill started the better of the two and was quick to assert herself.
Not happy to simply trade up & down the wall to the back she was
obviously concentrating on getting Perry off the ‘T’ at any given
opportunity whilst keeping the ball ‘relatively’ straight and took
the first without too much fuss. After a chat to her coach Steve
Townsend, Perry took the second game to Hill and pressed hard,
stepping up on the ‘T’ and using her long reach and holds at the
front to great effect, often leaving Hill flat footed. Perry never
relented and the whole match was now a totally different picture
from the 1st game.
As the match progressed Hill was hitting shorter lengths leaving
Perry to step in and choose one of 3 options - bury the ball either
straight or cross court or crush a boast. Hill seemingly unable to
respond (she has been out of the game struggling with a few injuries
of late and this began to tell) couldn’t push up any further and
Perry looked comfortable towards the end of the match, at times
herself producing some excellent movement for a big, tall girl.
Perry finished the match off in four games and the scene is now set
for a belter of a final at 3pm tomorrow!
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“Well my
knee is all good now. I’ve had a year out and it’s given me a chance
to get my standard back up. I am getting mentally stronger which is
leading me to stay more positive.
It kind of went a bit weird game in the 2nd game – I just couldn’t
seem to hit a straight drive. I just tried to keep saying to myself,
rely on my training and tighten up.
I was still thinking a bit about my knee even though it’s fine (just
in the back of my mind) and after the 2nd my dad came down and told
me that I had started to let her dictate the pace [& slow it down].
After that I was fine and just stepped up the pace to where I wanted
to be.
Rankings aren’t a goal for me now – been there done that! I am just
taking it 1 tournament to the next, looking towards the nationals
and then ultimately looking to the future and coaching.”
“The last
time I played Tania was in the recent WISPA event in London where I
lost to her in the quarters.
I am full time now and have been since August so I am hoping that
will stand me in good stead for the final as I have been playing
well and I am used to the courts now. I am really hoping to do well
before I have a week-long break. In the New Year I have a tournament
in Edinburgh, onto USA or Canada in early Feb [not decided yet] and
then back for the Nationals.
I am 21 now and in a couple of years I am looking to break into the
World’s Top 20. Of course my ultimate aim is to achieve World No.1 –
as soon as Nicole Retires!”
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17-Dec:
Quarter Finals at the Manor
Pete Goodings reports
 First
up was No.1 Seed Birgit Coufal against 6th Seed Carrie
Ramsey. Coufal started the same as yesterday, showed great
awareness of where her opponent was at all times & placed the ball
as far away from Ramsey as possible whenever she could. She needed
to be on her toes right from the off though as Ramsey played some
fantastic winners and in each game she was often 3 or 4 points ahead
due in the main to her determination and athletic court coverage.
At the half way point in each game though Ramsey’s concentration
wandered and her confidence to go in short seemed to drift in & out.
Ramsey was now making more of the openings but Coufal kept an even
tempo and absorbed most of what Ramsey threw at her. In the end
Coufal’s consistency combined with some untimely errors by Ramsey
seemed to be the deciding factors, Coufal going through to the
Semi’s in four tight, hard fought games.
Second quarter final was between 4th Seed Tania Bailey & 8th
Seed Nada Elkalaawy. A little bird tells me Nada is still
only 16 years old, yet she crushes the ball better than most decent
county standard men!
Bailey was obviously in no mood to mess around with the young
Egyptian and she started the match in dominant style, taking the
ball early, reading her opponent very well and getting to virtually
every short & deep ball with great time & balance. She showed why
she has been a top ten player and never let Elkalaawy into the match
keeping the pressure high and taking the tempo higher than her
opponent wanted.
Even though the rallies were hard and fast Bailey never looked too
troubled and whilst this bright young Egyptian plays with an older
head on her shoulders there was absolutely nothing she could do to
stop the wave after wave of attacks that Bailey delivered. Bailey,
safely through in 3 which will please her immensely, with the
Semi-Final only a few hours away.
 Third
match on was between 3rd Seed Lotte Eriksen & 7th Seed
(Derbyshire’s very own) Laura Hill. They have very similar
games and in the first they both tried to work the openings, yet the
telling factor was the tempo and stronger, tighter hitting from Hill
that kept Eriksen slightly on the back foot.
Hill took the ball early at every opportunity and as the game
progressed the pressure kept mounting on Eriksen and she was often
on the scurrying end of a majority of the rallies. Half way through
the 2nd game Hill seemed to go into auto pilot (in a good way) and
reeled off point after point of un-returnable strong drives, often
using a slight hold to keep Eriksen guessing.
Hill was looking stronger the longer the match went on and her
movement seemed fluid and effortless and a disheartened Eriksen
could do nothing to stop the onslaught. Hill then through to the
Semi-Finals in fine style.
Last match was between the 2nd Seed Sarah-Jane Perry &
Julianne Courtice. Perry started the better of the two in the
first and Courtice looked a little flustered and unsettled, losing
out but not before eventually finding her rhythm towards the end of
the game. From that point though Courtice really dug deep and proved
that she was not to be taken lightly (showing that yesterday’s
victory over the 5th Seeded Mesic was no flash in the pan).
Perry worked Courtice hard in the 2nd and played the points really
well before seemingly taking her foot off the gas. At 7-all though
Perry re-grouped and strung together a run of 5 solid points to take
the game. It was much of the same in the 3rd, all rallies being
strongly contested and this went virtually point-for-point all the
way to a tie break after some brilliant retrieving from Courtice.
Perry was now looking to close out the match and with her opponent
looking for any chink of light at the end of the tunnel it was
anyone’s game, both players not wanting to give anything away.
Perry seemed to have more momentum now and fought off a last charge,
cleaning up some loose returns and finishing the last 2 rallies with
some solid kills at the right time.
All-in-all a great end to a great quarter finals session.
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Day One in Derbyshire
Pete Goodings reports
 Day
one (1st round) at the Manor Health & Racquets Club in Ilkeston,
Derbyshire started well for all the seeds with only one upset, the
remaining seeds all going through fairly comfortably.
First matches on were No.1 Seed, Birgit Coufal from Austria (WR
67) against Local girl Heidi Walters and the No. 4 Seed,
Lincolnshire Favourite Tania Bailey (WR 90 – EX-WR 4) against
Belen Etchechoury from Argentina (WR 170).
Coufal kept the ball contained to all four corners really well
against Walters right from the start and this was to be the theme
for the whole match. The longer the rallies went on the more Walters
was being pulled away from the ‘T’ to the back of the service boxes
and Coufal slotted the ball at will to the front to end most of the
rallies. Experience told here as Coufal’s placement and court craft
showed, pulling away comfortably and Walters always seemed on the
back foot.
Bailey was always in command in her match against Etchechoury and
never relented, keeping the pace high and the angles wide when under
pressure at the front. Bailey seemed to show no signs of problems
with her movement having recovered from a long-term in jury and
reached some great shots from the talented young Argentine. The
result was never really in doubt as bailey dominated the ‘T’ and
kept as close to it as possible, making her opponent do all the hard
work. Etchechoury is a strong player and there should be more from
her in the future and I’m sure next year, should she decide to come
back her ranking will have greatly improved.
Next two matches on court were No. 7 Seed, Derbyshire No.1 &
National Racketball Champion Laura Hill (WR105) against
another English player, Catherine Finlayson (Under 19’s
England No.10) & the No.8 Seed Nada Elkalaawy from Egypt (WR
138) against English girl Rachel Willmott (WR 146).
Hill started strongly against the very mobile Finlayson and it was
fairly close scoring in the early stages of the first game. Hill had
the better of most of the rallies but it took a while for her to
stamp her authority and Finlayson made her fight for each and every
point. Hill’s solid ball control eventually took over and Finlayson
was soon covering all four corners with great regularity, and soon
closed out the match in 3 games.
Elkalaawy and Willmott was a different affair and even though the
score line was another 3-0 there was very little between them
engaging in some great competitive rallies. Elkalaawy has a very
powerful game and this kept Willmott chasing the game a great deal,
who herself is a strong hitter of the ball.
The Egyptian seemed to be on the better end of a majority of the
exchanges but she was made to work hard for every point and even
though the score suggests an easy first game it was nip & tuck all
the way. Elkalaawy finally came through in 3 but it wasn’t an easy
affair.
The 3 & 5 Seeds were next on court – 3rd Seed Lotte Eriksen
from Norway (WR 84) was up against Selina Sinclair from
England (WR 174) & 5th Seed Chloe Mesic from France (WR 99)
took on young Julianne Courtice another English girl (WR 245)
who is fresh out of University.
Eriksen asserted herself well right from the outset and Sinclair
always seemed a yard behind the pace and not looking that
comfortable. Eriksen controlled the ‘T’ throughout the match and
soon had Sinclair chasing the ball down in every rally. Keeping that
kind of running up is hard for the fittest of players and soon
Sinclair found herself struggling to compete, Eriksen making it a
comfortable win in her 1st round match.
The first and only upset of the day came when Courtice stepped onto
court against Mesic. Courtice looked very comfortable on these
courts and played very relaxed and accurate squash from the off.
Mesic struggled throughout to find her line & length and soon found
herself 2-0 down in a matter of minutes.
There was no let up from the young English player and she continued
to dominate in the third as she had done in the previous 2 games,
simply carving the ball to the back and chopping it to the front at
will – never appearing flustered and covering the court with
relative ease.
The final matches on day one saw 6th Seed Carrie Ramsey from
England (WR 98) against Local player and fellow English girl
Sophie Lemom (currently studying at Nottingham Trent university)
and 2nd Seed Sarah-Jane Perry, again from England (WR 82)
pitted against Cheyna Tucker from South Africa (WR 265).
Ramsey clearly had the edge from the outset and Lemon seemed
laboured in the latter stages of the second and third games,
complaining of cramp. Sometimes this can let the guard down and some
players have been known to take the foot off the gas but Ramsey was
having none of it, and crushed what little resistance lemon was
showing when she felt like it. The match was a very one-sided affair
and Ramsay will be pleased to have conserved her energy as she plays
the no.1 seed tomorrow.
Last to leave the court was Perry against Tucker. What a cracking
match, the first two games could have gone either way. Perry
controlled the ‘T’ superbly and made Tucker work all over the court
and created some great winning positions, but Tucker's determination
and hard work nearly paid off, narrowly losing out in the first and
going to a tie-break in the second.
Had she claimed either of those games the whole match could have
been very different yet Perry had the momentum now and closed out
the third in great style, Tucker running out of energy and ideas.
Striking the ball cleaner and harder as the third progressed
“Tucker’s Luck” finally ran out and Perry claimed the third with
some great kill shots.
A great match to finish day one.
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