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Hansen hoists Southport title
Luke Butterworth reports
 A
great final was enjoyed by the Southport crowd with some excellent
strategical rallies from the players but it was the scandanavian
Line Hansen who pulled through in four games showing her
dominance in the final two games, controlling the rallies better and
forcing mistakes from Amelia Pittock.
Line thanked the organisers and sponsors of the event and said she
was happy to take the first title back at southport.
Special thanks must go to the Southport General Manager Ralph
Saveggi who has been a great feature in helping the FASSP team
settle in at southport. FASSP were the biggest sponsor this year
other sponsors that were G bates, X24 and Sutton Keany were highly
appreciated, thank you.
FASSP are looking forward to holding a bigger event next year and it
was great to see two emerging players make great accounts of
themselves at this tournament, Olivia Blatchford and Maria Elena
Ubina are showing great potential and it was great for the members
to see two local youngsters playing at such a high level.
Thanks
Kumail Mehmood - Fassp Program Director
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 Southport
Open 2010
27-31 Jan, Connecticut, Usa, $4k |
Round One
29 Jan |
Quarters
30 Jan |
Semis
30 Jan |
Final
31 Jan |
[1] Line Hansen (Den)
bye |
[1] Line Hansen
11-2 11-9 11-2
[5] Genevieve Lessard |
[1] Line Hansen
11-7 5-11 11-8 11-2
[3] Olivia Blatchford |
[1] Line Hansen
11-6 7-11 11-6 11-5
[2] Amelia Pittock |
[5] Genevieve Lessard (Can)
11-8 4-11 11-9 11-4
Pamela Anckerman (Gua) |
[3] Olivia Blatchford (Usa)
bye |
[3] Olivia Blatchford
11-8 6-11 11-8 11-8
[8] Georgina Stoker |
[8] Georgina Stoker (Eng)
11-6 12-10 11-7
Merhan Amr Mahmoud (Egy) |
Meilin Ong (Usa)
11-9 11-2 11-5
[6] Salma Nasser (Egy) |
[6] Salma Nasser
11-8 10-12 11-3 11-5
[4] Carrie Hastings |
[6] Salma Nasser
7-11 11-13 11-5 11-9 11-8
[2] Amelia Pittock |
Elpiniki Clement (Usa)
[4] Carrie Hastings (Eng) |
Maria Elena Ubina (Usa)
13-11 9-11 8-11 11-5 11-8
[7] Thaisa Serafini (Bra) |
[7] Thaisa Serafini
11-7 11-3 13-11
[2] Amelia Pittock |
bye
[2] Amelia Pittock (Aus) |
Down to the final in Southport
Luke Butterworth reports
Quarter Finals.
Line hansen beat Genevieve Lessard 11-2 11-9 11-2
Strong accurate play from the Dane who flew through in 3 games.
Olivia Blatchford beat Georgina Stoker 11-8 6-11 11-8 11-8
A closely contested match with some great exchanges throughout the
match and it was Olivia who stayed strong when it matter in the
latter stages of the 3rd and 4th games to progress to the semis.
Salma Nasser beat Carrie Hastings 11-8 10-12 11-3 11-5
Fast shotmaker Salma progressed through the tough match against
Carrie who fell short today after a great opening to the match.
Amelia Pittock beat Thaisa Serafini 11-7 11-3 13-11
Experienced Pittock picked away at Thaisa who fought hard in the 3rd
to start a fightback but it was Amelia who stayed strong.
Semi Finals.
Line Hansen beat Olivia Blatchford 11-7 5-11 11-8 11-2
Once again we saw a great opening game in the first semi final
of the night, Line came out strong and composed to take the 1st game
and it was Olivia who showed great touch and speed to fightback in
the second. a close third was followed up by Line who took the
momentum from the match to take her place into tomorrows final.
Amelia Pittock beat Salma Nasser 7-11 11-13 11-5 11-9 11-8
A very slow start from Amelia who was taken by suprise from her
young opponent once again proving that her shotmaking is one of her
great talents slotting nick after nick in the first two games with
some really penetrating backhand lengths Amelia gained some
composure in the 3rd and then was tactically spot on to finish the
comeback and the match.
Alongside a great day for the Quarter finals and Semi Finals Fassp
held a round robin for the members with some of the players which
was massively appreciated by the home crowd. Also on show were some
exhibition matches between the pros who had been knocked out of the
tournament some notable results were young Maria Elena Ubina taking
out Elpinki Clement in 3 fast high paced games and Merhan taking out
Pamela in a tight 4 game battle.
Another freezing cold day but the temperature inside the squash
court was raised another notch today.
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Under way in Southport
Luke Butterworth reports
Genevieve Lessard bt pamela Anckermann 11-8 4-11 11-9 11-4
Opening game of the night with a fairly busy crowd early doors at
the southport racket club, witnessed some great exchanges of
pressure and powerplay being level at 1-1 Genevieve pulled away with
some accurate squash to eventually make her way to the quarters.
Georgina Stoker beat Merhan amr Mahmoud 11-6 12-10 11-7
Georgina showing her experience over her younger opponent who came
out fighting with some fast paced action but it was Georgina who
steadied the boat and finished the game off in 3.
Salma Nasser beat Elpinki Clement 11-9 11-2 11-5
The young egyptian with great hands fired herself through to the
quarters with some great shotplay which out manouvered Clement.
Thaisa Serafini bt Maria Elena Ubina 13-11 9-11 8-11 11-5 11-8
Im sure everybody who witnessed the squash at southport racket club
tonight would agree with me in saying that this was match of the
night. 15 years Maria Elena fought very hard throughout the 5 game
thriller which saw some excellent explosive rallies at such a high
pace. Ubina was using all her shots pleasing the crowd with nicks
flicks and pure power, Serafini took a more steady approach with
some excellent retrieving and eventually wore her young opponent
down with a more consistent performance. Ubina made a good account
of herself and will take alot of confidence from the performance
where as Serafini now looks onto the quarters.
Great start to the tournament, it may be well below freezing outside
but its red hot on the courts at southport!
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WISPA back to Southport
Luke Butterworth reports
This year welcomes back the Wispa tour to Southport Racquet Club in
Conneticut USA. The club recently acquired a new squash program
FASSP Squash run by Kumail Mehmood. Kumail and his staff
are ready to welcome players from five continents with the following
countries being represented; Denmark, Guatemala, Egypt, England,
Australia, Brazil, Usa and Canada.
Fassp Squash are really looking forward to the tournament this
weekend starting on Friday night with the first round matches.
Members and staff at Southport are happy for the Wispa tour to be
back at their club for which looks like its going to be an exciting
tournament.
Local interest for the crowd is our up and coming junior Maria
Elena Ubina. This year's U17 US open champion is ready to
give everything in her second Wispa tournament of her early starting
career and everyone is looking forward to the first tournament
hosted by Fassp of 2010 ...
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