09-Aug, Finals:

[1] Siyoli Waters 3-1 Milnay Louw
                      11/5, 11/8, 10/12, 11/7 (32m)
[2] Shaun Le Roux 3-1 [1] Steve Coppinger
                     5/11, 11/3, 11/8, 11/8 (47m)

Le Roux dethrones Coppinger, Waters retains

In the first game of the men's final both players played long hard rallies waiting for the other to make the error. Shaun Le Roux was eventually a little impatient and towards the end of the game made a few unnecessary errors as defending champion Steve Coppinger took the lead.

Le Roux played a very disciplined game in the second, hitting the ball to a good deep length and going for very few winners. Coppinger made all the mistakes and allowed Le Roux the opportunity to level the match at 1-1. Le Roux’s excellent retrieval of the ball and athleticism forced Coppinger to go for risky shots that did not pay off. Le Roux managed to keep his head and took the 3rd to go 2-1 up.

Le Roux kept up the pressure and made the rallies long and hard. Both players played very disciplined squash but in the end Le Roux was just too steady and Coppinger made more errors. Le Roux stated that this was the win of his career and he looked forward to winning a few more titles on the World Professional Squash Tour.

Siyoli Waters the number one seed from Cape Town retained her National title by defeating Milnay Louw 3-1. Louw was very nervous in the 1st game and made a lot of unforced errors. Waters was very focused in the second and played the ball to a good tight length forcing Louw to make the errors. In the 3rd the tables turned and it was Louw’s turn to hit the ball deep and to a better length.

With her nerves settling she took control of the 3rd game but Waters fought back to eventually lose 10-12. Waters was determined to re focus and not let the game run away like in the semis. The first couple of rallies she played steady constructive squash forcing Louw to go for the winners and making errors.

Siyoli also picked up awards for Player of the Year, and Player of the Decade !!

08-Aug, Semis:

Men:
[1] Steve Coppinger 3-0 Gary Naido                13/11, 11/2, 11/4
[2] Shaun Le Roux 3-0 [3/4] Thoboko Mohohlo   11/8, 11/6, 11/5

Women:
[1] Siyoli Waters 3-2 Alex Fuller       11/13, 3/11, 11/3, 11/5, 11/3
[2] Milnay Louw 3-2 Elani Landman 6/11, 7/11, 13/11, 11/3, 13/11

07-Aug, Quarters Part Two:

Men's Quarters:
Gary Naidoo 3-2 Zuko Kubukeli   9/11, 16/14, 7/11, 11/8, 11/1 (69m)
[1] Steve Coppinger 3-0 Rodney Durbach      11/7, 11/7, 11/3 (34m)

Ladies Quarters:
Elani Landman 3-0 Farrah Sterne                11/4, 11/7, 11/3 (23m)
[2] Milnay Louw 3-0 Alexa Pienaar             11/4, 11/5, 11/9 (31m)

Down to the semis in Jo'burg

In the first match of the day Elani Landman beat Farrah Sterne 3-0.
Landman was very focused and moved the ball around the court far too quickly for Sterne. By putting Sterne under pressure Landman forced Sterne to make a lot of errors. Sterne looked very uncomfortable on the all glass court.

Milnay Louw took advantage of a very nervous Alexa Pienaar to go through to the semi-finals. Louw hit the ball low and hard and Pienaar did just not get into her game.

In the men’s event Gary Naidoo from Kwazulu Natal had a marathon match against Zuko Kubukeli eventually winning 3-2. The second game proved to be very critical as Naidoo was 1-0 down and game ball down in the second but managed to clinch back the game 16-14. Kubukeli once again put Naidoo under extreme pressure with good length and great retrieving in the 3rd to go 2-1 up. Naidoo dug deep and keep his composure and cut out the unforced errors to take the fourth and even the match at 2-2. Kubukeli had nothing more to give and Naidoo raced away with the 5th 11-1.

Steve Coppinger was just too fast and accurate for Rodney Durbach. Coppinger took the ball early and varied the pace to totally outplay Durbach.

The semi final line up sees Milnay Louw taking on Elani Landman at 17:30 followed by Shaun Le Roux playing Thoboki Mohohlo, then Siyoli Waters Waters playing Alex Fuller and finally Steve Coppinger playing Gary Naidoo.

The finals will be at Wanderers Squash Club on Saturday starting at 11:45.

06-Aug, Quarters part one:

Men’s Quarters:
[3/4] Thoboki Mohohlo 3-0 Devon Hendrikse     11/6, 11/3, 11/6 (27m)
[2] Shaun Le Roux 3-1 Michael Wood       11/3, 8/11, 11/5, 11/7 (34m)

Ladies Quarters:
[1] Siyoli Waters 3-0 Lune Landman              11/8, 11/6, 11/4 (22m)
Alex Fuller 3-0 Karen Schultz                        11/8, 11/8, 11/2 (19m)

The third round of the SA National Squash Event saw all the matches going to seeded players.

Siyoli Waters the number 1 seed from Cape Town had better shot control than Lume Landman and was just too quick onto the ball. Landman seemed to struggle with the pace from Waters, forcing her to make a lot of errors.

In the other quarter final Alex Fuller from Western Province was just too efficient with her movement and shot choice to oust out team mate Karen Schultz. Waters is seeded to meet Fuller in the semi-finals on Friday at 19:00.

In the men’s 1st quarter final, Thoboki Mohohlo was just too fast onto the ball for his opponent Devon Hendrikse. He was patient and kept his errors to a minimum. Mohohlo’s international experience this year has definitely elevated his game and his patience and professionalism is starting to pay off. Number 2 seed Shaun Le Roux managed to keep calm and after losing the second game to Michael Wood came back to win 3-1. In the last 2 games he managed to keep the ball tighter than his opponent and the power of his low hard drives constantly had Wood under pressure.

Men's Last 16:
[1] S Coppinger 3-0 M Tootill
R Durbach  3-2 J Schlebusch
G Naidoo  3-1 A Martin
Z Kubukeli 3-1 [3/4] G Wheadon

[3/4] T Mohohlo 3-1 N vd Merwe
D Hendrikse 3-1 JP Britz
M Wood 3-0 C Potgieter
[2] S Le Roux 3-0 K Maree

04-Aug:
Wanderers Club, Johannesburg, 1st Round

The first round of the SA National Squash Event started at Wanderers Squash Club on Monday evening. The top seeds all proceeded through to the second round with relative ease. The closest match of the evening was between two Northern’s players Nell van der Merwe and Craig Stephens. After a slow start in the first game and going 1 game down to his team mate, van der Merwe came back strongly in the last 3 games to win the match 3-1.

Most of the top seeds in the ladies section had byes through to the 2nd round. Tomorrows matches see both the top seed Siyoli Waters (WP) and 2nd seed M Louw taking on some promising juniors.

Play commences at 17:30

Men’s 1st Round Results:

[1] S Coppinger (KZN) bt M Montanus 3-0, 11/7, 11/2, 11/7 (19m)
M Tootill bt G Viljoen (E) 3-0, 11/1, 22/20, 11/4 (22m)
J Schlebusch(SACD) bt S Erasmus 3-0, 11/5, 11/2, 11/8 (24m)
R Durbach (WP)bt R Olivier (FS) 3-0, 11/8, 11/6, 11/2 (27m)
A Martin (KZN) bt D Savage (E) 3-0, 11/2, 11/4, 11/3 (24m)
G Naidoo (KZN) bt J Kruger 3-1, 8/11, 11/3, 11/8, 11/8 (34m)
Z Kubukeli(WP) bt D Groenewald (E) 3-0 11/4, 11/4, 11/9 (30m)
[3/4] G Wheadon (KZN) bt M Ntuli 3-0, 11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (28m)
[3/4] T Mohohlo bt J Carter 3-0, 11/3, 11/4, 11/8 (23m)
N vd Merwe (N) bt C Stephens (N) 3-1, 9/11, 11/8, 11/4, 11/7 (42m)
JP Britz (SACD) bt J Kershaw (KZN) 3-1, 8/11, 11/3, 11/2, 11/6 (46m)
D Hendrikse bt L Kuhn (FS) 3-0, 11/5, 11/7, 11/5 (39m)
M Wood (Bor) bt C Fourie (SACD) 3-1, 11/5, 11/6, 5/11, 11/6 (47m)
C Potgieter (SACD) bt H Schoeman 3-0 11/3, 11/4, 11/2 (20m)
K Maree bt K De Lange (E) 3-0, 11/0, 11/4, 11/0 (11m)
[2] S Le Roux (WP) bt J letlake 3-0, 11/6, 11/6, 11/4 (27m)

Ladies 1st Round Results:

M Wiese bt D Di Rago 3-0, 11/1, 11/2, 11/3 (18m)
J Usher (E) bt A Snyman (E) 3-0, 11/7, 11/7, 11/4, (12m)
M Kohne (SACD) bt L Di Rago 3-0, 11/6, 11/4, 11/5 (19m)
M Westmoreland (SACD) bt D Malaika 3-0, 11/4, 11/4, 11/5 (13m)
J de Villers (SACD) bt J Dawson (N) 3-0, 11/8, 11/9, 11/9 (18m)