20-Aug, Final:

Vanessa Atkinson bt Laura Hill  9/11, 11/3, 11/3, 11/4 (32m)

Emma Beddoes reports

The two week long MANTIS FantasySquash.net Festival at Nottingham Squash Rackets club came to a fitting end this evening with a highly entertaining final of the women’s professional event between former world number 1 Vanessa Atkinson and local squash star Laura Hill.

As Vanessa admitted later in her speech it was good to see 2 more “experienced” players outplay their younger rivals to reach the final and put on a display of top quality squash for the crowd. Indeed WSF referee Wendy Danzey had generously given her time to referee the final but was hardly needed for a match played in a great spirit.

The first saw a quick start from Laura, displaying, as she had done in her semi-final, a willingness to take the ball in short. A mixture of boasts and straight drops saw her to an 8-4 lead. Vanessa tightened up her length to come back to 9-9 but Laura was still in her stride and finished off her first game ball with a lovely forehand kill to take the lead 1/0.

Laura didn’t do too much wrong in the second but Vanessa hasn’t been world number 1 for nothing and started to beautifully construct the rallies moving Laura to all four corners of the court. Both girls were starting to work hard but it was Laura who too often found herself on the end of the long rallies and Vanessa ran away to take the game 11/3.

It was Vanessa who had the momentum now and the third saw her forging ahead again, using a weighted length into the forehand back corner and working the ball in consistently to the front. Laura kept in the rallies but even under pressure Vanessa turned it around with defensive lobs and came through to win 11/3.

The fourth game followed similar lines and as Laura grew tired Vanessa used her boasts and drops to even greater effect. To her credit Laura responded with some quality defensive play but it was Vanessa who stayed strong, finishing the match in great style with a backhand crosscourt volley nick off the serve to take it 11/4.

So 2 great weeks of squash has come to an end with big thanks to our sponsors MANTIS and FantasySquash.net for supporting grass roots professional squash in this country. We’re already looking forward to next year’s festival which will hopefully be even bigger and better.
 

11/9, 11/9, 4/11, 11/3 (32m)

[Q] Sarah-Jane Perry

19.30

[7] Laura Hill

11/8, 12/10, 11/7 (23m)

[7] Laura Hill

Qualifying Finals:

Sarah-Jane Perry bt Julianne Courtice                       11/8, 11/5, 11/5 (24m)
Melissa Meulenbelt bt Brogan Lane                   11/3, 11/5, 5/11, 11/6 (26m)
Rachel Wilmott bt Kirsty McPhee               11/9, 11/9, 8/11, 5/11, 11/7 (48m)
Cigany Silevis bt Selina Sinclair                 11/9, ?/11, ?/11, 11/?, 11/2

19-Aug, Semi-Finals:
It's Atkinson and Hill in Nottingham final ...
Emma Beddoes reports

The first match of the evening saw former world number one Vanessa Atkinson take on recent graduate Sarah-Jane Perry. This was Vanessa’s first real tester of the tournament and she was made to work hard for the win. The rallies were not always long with both girls eager to take it in short and move the other around court whenever possible.

The first was even up until 7-7 but tins from Sarah-Jane saw her lose it 11/9. The pace of the second felt quite slow with Vanessa in particular using a lot of height and both using the hold and boast into the front very effectively. At 7-8 Vanessa hit her second serve of the match out (surely worthy of some court sprints!?) to take Sarah-Jane to 9-7 but four errors in a row from Sarah-Jane’s racket saw Vanessa through 11/9.

At the start of the third Sarah-Jane looked like she might be suffering physically from the effects of the first two games but it was Vanessa who started to make a few unforced errors and Sarah-Jane who was no longer finding the tin and instead hitting winners. As a result she ran away with the game taking it quickly 11/3. A more controlled Vanessa came out in the fourth and this time it was Sarah-Jane on the back foot. The physical effort took its toll and Vanessa took an enjoyable match 3/1 in just over half an hour.

After Laura Hill's long five setter yesterday she faced fellow good retriever Maud Duplomb in the second semi-final of the evening. With similar styles it was generally thought this could be another long one but surprisingly it was all done and dusted in under 25 minutes. That’s not to take anything away from Maud as all three games were close and she had chances in each but the shorter rallies seemed to stem from a rather dead ball. Maud led 7-5 in the first but Laura was keen to take the ball in and reeled off some winners to take it 11/8.

The second was played at a high pace with both moving well and looking to take the ball early wherever possible. At 5/4 Laura had three strokes awarded against her for Maud to go 9/6 up and Maud was using her hold and straight drive well from the front of the court. Laura kept fighting as she does and stormed back to take the game on a tiebreak 12/10.

For the third game in a row Maud had the lead this time 7-5 but seemed to tire making unforced errors that hadn’t been there previously. Laura capitalised on this with some great boasts from the back, sealing the match 11/7 and with it a place against Vanessa in the final tomorrow evening.
  

18-Aug-11, Quarter-Finals:
Sarah-Jane and Laura on the War Path ...
Emma Beddoes reports

A quick-fire win for Vanessa in the first match of the day despite Tesni’s best efforts. It was a match of youth against experience and it showed as Vanessa moved her Welsh opponent around the court, using the attacking boast to good effect.

There were errors from both at times but Tesni found herself under constant pressure and despite a comeback from 6-1 down in the third was unable to postpone the inevitable losing that game 11/8 and with it the match in just over 20 minutes.

These two girls last met back in March and had a close five setter with Celia winning 11/9 in the fifth. Today was equally close with Sarah-Jane getting off to a quick start in the first before Celia came back strongly to take the second. The French woman kept the pressure up at the start of the third leading 8-4 but Sarah-Jane turned her errors into winners to take the game on a tiebreak.

Both girls play a hard-hitting game and were evenly matched again in the fourth but Sarah-Jane stayed on top of the rallies to take the game 11/9 and the match 3/1. She has set up a semi-final clash with Vanessa tomorrow.

Maud and Carrie had the longest first rounds yesterday and as they both retrieve well this looked set to be another long match. Maud raced ahead in the first to a 10-3 lead and Carrie was only able to grab a couple of points back before the French woman sealed it 11/6.

However Carrie came out positively in the second, volleying well and using more of her short game to level the match at one-all. The third and fourth were tight most of the way but Maud seemed to have more left in the tank and Carrie’s error count increased. From 6-6 in the fourth Maud kept her patience while Carrie tried to finish rallies off too quickly and as a result Maud took the game and with it the match 11/7.

The last match of the evening turned out to be the only five-setter and was a quality match between number two seed Lauren Selby and fellow English woman Laura Hill.

Laura doesn’t play many tournaments and as a result her ranking in no way reflects her standard. The two have contrasting styles with Laura strong and powerful and Lauren the shot maker.

The games Lauren won she controlled the pace using height and deft touch into the front to move Laura around the court. However in the first and third it was Laura who was able to get in front and enforce a faster pace. The decider was even all the way to 8-7 but Laura stayed strong physically and was able to pull away to take the win and set up a semi-final with Maud tomorrow evening.
  

Emma Beddoes reports

Final qualifying for Nottingham's first-ever professional women's event saw English and Dutch players split the available main draw places, all of them hoping to avoid Vanessa Atkinson when the draw was made ...

During the day Milja Dorenbos withdrew from the tournament with an ear infection and so after the matches were completed Brogan Lane was pulled out of the hat and goes into the lucky loser spot to play seventh seed Tesni Evans tomorrow night.

Sarah-Jane Perry bt Julianne Courtice
                                        11/8, 11/5, 11/5 (24m)

The first match featured two hard hitting players but it was Sarah-Jane who dealt best with the bouncy ball, using her power to find a dying length. Julianne was on the back foot for the majority of the match and under pressure from her opponent made too many unforced errors.

With only one match under her belt Sarah-Jane will be fresh when she faces third seed Birgit Coufal in the main draw tomorrow.

Melissa Meulenbelt bt Brogan Lane
                                   11/3, 11/5, 5/11, 11/6 (26m)

On paper this was the first match of the tournament to go against seeding with Melissa (WR 190) beating 17 year old England junior Brogan Lane (WR 185) in 4 games. Melissa started off the stronger with some good finishing shots at the front combined with errors from Brogan.

This continued in the second but Brogan started to find her range in the third and it was the Dutch girl on the wrong end of the rallies. Those rallies took their toll on Brogan in the fourth and she visibly tired, reverting back to unforced errors and Melissa took the match and with it a place against second seed Lauren Selby in the main draw tomorrow.

“I’m happy with the first 2 games, she played a lot better in the third but I stuck to my game plan in the fourth and let her make mistakes.

This is my first WISPA in England, I’ve played a couple in Holland and Switzerland but I’m studying law so I work my training and tournaments around that.”

Rachel Wilmott bt Kirsty McPhee
                                    11/9 11/9 8/11 5/11 11/7 (48m)

This was the longest and best match of the tournament so far between two former England junior internationals who both now have full-time jobs, Kirsty as a coach and Rachel a solicitor. It was a high quality match using all four corners of the court and it was a shame someone had to lose it.

The first two games were close all the way with Kirsty looking to go for her shots while Rachel played a more solid length and was volleying strongly. A few mistakes from Kirsty made the difference there.

In the next two games however she was able to assert more pressure with her hold and short game and gained control of the match. The decider was close again with Kirsty leading 7-5 but she seemed to tire quicker than Rachel who finished strongly to seal the game 11/7 and with it the match.

She goes on to play fellow Englishwoman Carrie Ramsey in the main draw.

Cigany Silevis bt Selina Sinclair
                                    11/9 9/11 6/11 11/7 11/2 (36m)

The final match of the evening was another five setter between English player Selina Sinclair and Dutch girl Cigany Silevis. This match went first one way and then the other with Cigany coming out of the blocks quickly, playing at a high pace and taking the first 11/9.

This effort seemed to tire her though and Selina was able to get on top in the next two and work the ball around the court nicely. Cigany came back in the fourth, hitting a good length and winning kills which saw her through 11/2 in the fifth.

She has the draw which no one wanted tomorrow when she takes on former world number one Vanessa Atkinson.

 

“We haven’t played each other in a long time but I felt like I played ok despite having a flyer of a ball!

I’ve just finished an engineering and business degree and this is my first tournament since turning full-time.

 I’d probably rather not draw Vanessa first round!”

 

 

“That was a battle! I played well in the first 2 but she found her shots and started to mix it up really well.

In the fifth I came out attacking and managed to grind it out so I’m very happy to win.

I’ll have to take a day off work tomorrow now!”