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 05-Jul,
Finals:
Corren moves to 22 titles
as King wins again
Andrew Dent reports
South Australian Mike Corren became the equal second highest
tournament winner on the men’s professional squash tour when he beat
Rex Hedrick in the final of the Victorian Open in Melbourne on
Sunday.
 Corren,
35, won his 22nd title overall and his fourth of the year when he
downed Hedrick in straight games 11-5, 11-5, 11-5. He now sits
alongside Egypt’s Amr Shabana and behind only countryman David
Palmer, who has 25 titles, on the all time winner’s list.
Corren reached the final with a 12-10, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 win over
Nathan Stevenson, while the eighth seeded Hedrick produced a major
upset to oust second seeded Kiwi Graeme Wilson 11-8, 11-1, 9-11,
11-8.
The 20-year-old Hedrick, from the Melbourne suburb of Knox, is
renowned for his speed around the court but he had no answer to the
far more experienced South Australian.
The top seed took the first game easily but switched off at the
start of the second, allowing Hedrick to get his nose in front.
However, once Corren refocused there was no stopping him and he
played some delightful squash to give his younger opponent no
chance.
Corren has now won four tournaments in succession, with Sunday’s win
following successes in Kalgoorlie (WA), Hamilton (NZ) and the NSW
Open in Sydney.
He said it was an honour to add his name to a trophy that features
former winners such as Geoff Hunt, Rod Martin and Chris Dittmar.
“I’ve been trying to win the Victorian Open for quite a few years
now so it feels great,” he said. “I just hope the next generation of
players put as much importance on the state opens as I have.”
 Earlier,
New Zealand’s Joelle King turned in a dominant performance to
take the women’s title with an 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 win over second
seeded Victorian Amelia Pittock.
Pittock, who won the Victorian Open in 2005, could not match the New
Zealander, who, like Corren, added the Victorian title to the NSW
Open she won last week.
King has improved immensely over the last 12 months and she
highlighted that rise with the ease of her win over the more
experienced Pittock.
After trading points at the beginning of the first game King eased
away to a 10-7 lead before claiming the opening game 11-8. The tall
New Zealander then came out in the second and raced away to an 8-1
lead, using her superior court movement and reach to overwhelm her
opponent,
Pittock came back slightly but King’s lead was too great and the top
seed closed out the game to open up a 2/0 lead. The third game
followed the pattern of the first, with the two players trading
points until 6-6 when King got two points clear, then held the
advantage to claim a comfortable victory.
A number of the former winners of the Victorian Open women’s trophy
were special guests for Sunday’s final and King said she felt
honoured to win the tournament in front of players such as Vicki
Cardwell, Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Margaret Zacharia and Anne Smith.
“There are some great names on the trophy,” she said. “Hopefully I
can achieve some of the great things they did.”
King now has a week off before heading to Clare in South Australia
for the Australian Open, where she will be the sixth seed.
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 Victorian
Open 2009
03-05 Jul, Melbourne, $4k |
Round One
04
Jul |
Quarters
04 Jul |
Semis
05 Jul |
Final
05 Jul |
[1]
Joelle King (Nzl)
11/5, 11/8, 11/3
Ines Callahan (Aus) |
[1] Joelle King
11/9, 11/5, 11/8
Jane Kennedy |
[1] Joelle King
11/5, 11/7, 11/5
[3] Melody Francis |
[1] Joelle King
11/8, 11/4, 11/7
[2] Amelia Pittock |
[5]
Zoe Petranovsky (Aus)
3/11, 11/4, 13/11, 13/11
Jane Kennedy (Eng) |
[3]
Melody Francis (Aus)
11/2, 11/3, 11/9
Sarah Dennehy (Aus) |
[3] Melody Francis
11/7, 12/10, 11/4
[6] Sarah Cardwell |
[6]
Sarah Cardwell (Aus)
11/3, 11/7, 11/1
Grazia Guida (Aus) |
Alma
Kushkartanti (Aus)
12/10, 8/11, 11/8, 11/9
[7] Samantha Davies (Aus) |
[7] Samantha Davies
7/11, 14/12, 11/8, 11/8
[4] Amanda Cranston |
[4] Amanda Cranston
12/10, 3/11, 11/1, 12/10
[2] Amelia Pittock |
Rochelle Shaw (Aus)
11/5, 11/4, 11/3
[4] Amanda Cranston (Nzl) |
Vanessa Pickerd (Aus)
11/5, 11/5, 11/9
[8] Selena Shaikh (Aus) |
Vanessa Pickerd
11/8, 11/4, 12/10
[2] Amelia Pittock |
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus)
w/o
[2] Amelia Pittock (Aus) |
 Victorian
Open 2009
03-05 Jul, Melbourne, $5k |
Round One
04 Jul |
Quarters
04 Jul |
Semis
05 Jul |
Final
05 Jul |
[1] Mike Corren (Aus)
11/4, 11/5, 11/7
Brent Dunkley (Aus) |
[1] Mike Corren
11/5, 11/5, 11/8
[7] Alex Grayson |
[1] Mike Corren
10/12, 11/6, 11/7, 11/7
[5] Nathan Stevenson |
[1] Mike Corren
11/5, 11/5, 11/5
[8] Rex Hedrick |
[7]
Alex Grayson (Nzl)
11/8, 5/11, 11/2, 4/11, 11/7
Peter Taylor (Aus) |
[4]
Steven Robinson (Aus)
11/2, 11/9, 11/6
[Q] Juan Pablo Roude (Arg) |
[4] Steven Robinson
9/11, 7/11, 11/5, 11/0, 11/8
[5] Nathan Stevenson |
[5]
Nathan Stevenson (Aus)
11/9, 11/9, 5/11, 12/10
[Q] Cameron White (Aus) |
[Q] Evan Williams (Nzl)
9/11, 11/9, 11/4, 5/11, 11/3
[8] Rex Hedrick (Aus) |
[8] Rex Hedrick
9/11, 11/4, 5/11, 11/6, 11/3
Luke Forster |
[8] Rex Hedrick 11/8, 11/1,
9/11, 11/8
[2] Graeme Wilson |
Luke
Forster (Aus)
11/7, 8/11, 11/6, 9/11, 11/7
[3] Justin Beard (Aus) |
[Q] Jacob Alexander (Aus)
11/1, 12/10, 3/11, 11/7
[6] Josh Cardwell (Aus) |
[Q] Jacob Alexander
6/11, 11/5, 11/8, 8/11, 11/6
[2] Graeme Wilson |
Gonzalo Miranda (Arg)
9/11, 11/5, 11/9, 11/7
[2] Graeme Wilson (Nzl) |
Qualifying
Finals:
Cameron White (AUS) bt
Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS)
11-2, 11-4, 11-3
Juan Pablo Roude (ARG) bt Ben Werchon (AUS)
5-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-9
Evan Williams (NZL) bt Bumpei Kawano (JPN)
11-8, 11-5, 11-8
Jacob Alexander (AUS) bt Brendan Gulston (AUS)
11-2, 11-2, 11-2
First Round:
Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS)
bye
Cameron White (AUS) bt Ken Okada (JPN)
11-8, 11-4, 11-4
Ben Werchon (AUS) bt Paul Reynolds (AUS)
11-8, 11-5, 11-8
Juan Pablo Roude (ARG) bt James Skiffington (NZL)
11-7, 13-11, 12-10
Bumpei Kawano (JPN) bt Sam Fife (AUS)
11-6, 12-10, 11-7
Evan Williams (NZL) bt Matiu Te Kani-McQueen (NZL)
11-9, 11-6, 11-4
Brendan Gulston (AUS) bt James Wiseman (AUS)
11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7
Jacob Alexander (AUS)
bye
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Victorian Open returns to Melbourne
with live streaming ...
This
week’s Victorian Open - returning to metropolitan Melbourne for the
first time in 15 years - will make Australian squash history when
the men’s and women’s finals are webcast live on the internet.
While tournaments around the world have been gradually embracing the
use of webcasting to raise the profile of their events, Sunday’s
finals at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre mark the first
time the technology has been used in Australia.
Squash Vic has teamed with specialist webcaster Webtron to broadcast
the finals.
Webtron national sales and marketing manager Andrew Groves said the
company was excited to be adding squash to its portfolio, which also
includes events such as the Gold Coast Marathon.
“It is an ideal way for organisers to get their event out to the
world and give sponsors real value for money,” Groves said.
Squash Vic chief executive Fiona Young said the webcast would boost
the profile of the Victorian Open, a major lead up tournament for
the Australian Open, to be held in Clare from July 14-18.
“We are excited at the potential this offers to increase the sport’s
viewing audience and profile and hope this may be the forerunner for
regular webcasts of top Australian squash events,” she said.
“If the matches follow the seedings we anticipate two Trans-Tasman
finals and therefore expect a great deal of interest from the New
Zealand squash community, who of course will now be able to follow
the action live.”
Sports fans will no doubt be hoping that squash legend Sarah Fitz-Gerald
can defy the odds to reach yet another final, six years after she
retired from the world tour.
Fitz-Gerald has entered this year’s tournament and has been drawn to
play second seed Amelia Pittock in the first round.
The 40-year-old Fitz-Gerald has not played a tournament on the main
tour since the Top End Open in Darwin in 2007, which she won, but
she keeps in top shape by playing against the men in the Melbourne
pennant competition.
The men’s event will see 35-year-ol Mike Corren gunning for his 22nd
tournament victory following his success at the NSW Open on Sunday.
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