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Christchurch Vets 2016
26 Apr - 01 May, Ipswich, England, $5k |
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01-May, Final:
[6] Youssef Soliman (Egy) 3-1 [5] Mark
Fuller (Eng)
11/5, 11/5, 9/11, 11/2 (48m)
Soliman
makes it two in a row
Alec Livingstone reports
Youssef Soliman continued his impressive start to 2016
with his second PSA title in as many months at the Christchurch
Vets Ipswich Open.
Soliman had made steady progress through the draw and came up
against an in form Mark Fuller who had not dropped a game
in reaching the final.
 It
always promised to be an intriguing match up between the flair
of Soliman and the determined, professional squash of Fuller.
The Egyptian started strongly, settling into the match quickly
and attacking at every opportunity. He raced through the first
game with some brutal short shots, winning it 11/5.
The second game followed a similar pattern with Soliman pressing
his opponent into the front court and then looking to volley the
return. At 7-4 Fuller required an injury time out for an ankle
complaint but that had little effect and Soliman maintained his
composure to win the game 11/5.
The third game was a different story with the Egyptian having an
apparent loss of concentration and Fuller taking full advantage,
leading throughout the game.
Several times the Englishman sent his opponent the wrong way
with deceptive cross course drop shots and despite a late run of
points from Soliman, Fuller closed the game out 11/9.
Soliman came out fast and focused in the fourth and was able to
stretch his opponent across all four corners of the court before
clinically finishing the rallies. He raced through the game
taking it 11/2.
Fuller will reflect on a solid event in reaching the final,
particularly in light of the strong draw at the start of the
week.
 “I
didn’t feel I did too much wrong, but it was a tough final.
Youssef was a level up; he is so quick and so fast I always felt
one step behind.”
Soliman on the other hand was the standout player throughout the
event and seems destined to reach the highest echelons of the
game.
“Now that I’ve started playing PSA events I’m coming up
against experienced players and it’s an opportunity for me to
learn and improve.”
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Christchurch Vets 2016
26 Apr - 01 May, Ipswich, England, $5k |
Round One
28 Apr |
Quarters
29 Apr |
Semis
30 Apr |
Final
01 May |
[1 Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
11/3, 11/7, 11/5 (37m)
Ondrej Uherka (Cze) |
[1 Arthur Gaskin
11/3, 11/3, 11/1 (23m)
Patrick Rooney |
Patrick Rooney 11/4, 8/11, 11/6, 11/7
(53m)
[6] Youssef Soliman |
[6] Youssef Soliman
11/5, 11/5, 9/11, 11/2 (48m
[5] Mark Fuller |
[8] Ben Ford (Eng)
7/11, 11/8, 14/12, 13/11 (54m
Patrick Rooney (Eng) |
[6] Youssef Soliman (Egy)
11/5, 11/6, 11/8 (27m)
[Q] Claudio Pinto (Por) |
[6] Youssef Soliman
11/8, 8/11, 12/10, 11/4 (73m)
[3] Dougie Kempsell |
[3] Dougie Kempsell (Sco)
11/4, 11/6, 3/11, 11/4 (35m)
Nick Mulvey (Eng) |
[Q] Bradley Masters (Eng)
11/14, 11/5, 11/8, 11/6 (41m)
[4] Matthew Hopkin (Aus) |
[4] Matthew Hopkin
11/7, 12/10, 11/7 (45m)
[5] Mark Fuller |
[5] Mark Fuller
11/8, 11/5, 11/8 (38m)
[7] Sean Conroy |
[Q] Phil Nightingale (Eng)
11/8, 11/8, 11/4 (32m)
[5] Mark Fuller (Eng) |
[wc] Robert Dadds (Eng)
11/9, 11/9, 11/4 (29m)
[7] Sean Conroy (Irl) |
[7] Sean Conroy
11/3, 7/11, 11/4, 11/5 (40m)
[Q] Kyle Finch |
[Q] Kyle Finch (Eng)
11/8, 11/8, 11/8 (50m
[2] Chris Fuller (Eng) |
Qualifying Finals
Phil Nightingale (Eng) 3-2 [1] Julian Tomlinson (Eng)
11/7, 13/11, 7/11, 8/11, 11/8 (61m)
[4] Claudio Pinto (Por) 3-0 Sam Ellis (Eng)
11/7, 12/10, 11/6 (40m)
[3] Kyle Finch (Eng) 3-2 Joeri Hapers (Bel)
11/7, 10/12, 9/11, 11/6, 11/5 (67m)
Bradley Masters (Eng) 3-0 Owain Taylor (Wal)
11/5, 11/4, 11/7 (50m)
Qualifying Round One
[1] Julian Tomlinson (Eng) 3-0 Varun Johnny (Ind)
11/0, 11/1, 11/1 (13m)
[6] Phil Nightingale (Eng) 3-0 Ben Turmel (Eng)
11/9, 11/6, 11/7 (28m)
[8] Sam Ellis (Eng) 3-0 Joshua Turmel (Eng)
11/7, 11/7, 11/3 (25m)
[4] Claudio Pinto (POR) 3-0 Gary Nisbet (Eng)
11/4, 11/3, 11/3 (18m)
[3] Kyle Finch (Eng) 3-0 Jamie Goodrich (Eng)
11/6, 11/9, 11/8 (24m)
[5] Joeri Hapers (Bel) 3-0 Cai Younger (Eng)
11/8, 11/7, 11/6 (33m)
[7] Bradley Masters (Eng) 3-0 Matthew Broadberry (Eng) 11/9,
11/5, 12/10 (42m)
Owain Taylor (Wal) 3-1 [2] Elliot Selby (Eng)
11/9, 11/7, 7/11, 11/8 (44m)
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30-Apr, Semis:
Soliman and Fuller into the final
Saturday saw two excellent semis played in a fine spirit.
 Youssef
Soliman was the first to book his place in Sunday’s final
with a 3-1 win over Patrick Rooney. Soliman took the first with
some great attacking play from difficult positions and it looked
as if the match could be over quite quickly.
But Rooney has been around long enough not to be flustered and
upped the pace to storm into a 6-0 lead in the 2nd and although
he was pegged back a bit, the pressure paid off to give him the
game and square the match. From that point on though Soliman
took control; an elegant, athletic player.
Retrieving well and constantly putting the pressure back on
Rooney he eventually ran out a comfortable 3-1 winner.
 Joining
Soliman in the final will be Mark Fuller who had a
straightforward 3-0 win over Sean Conroy. This was a great
demonstration to the younger players in the audience of how to
win by doing the basics very, very well.
Fuller hit good consistent length, recovered well when he had to
and dominated the centre of the court. Conroy ran and ran but it
was never going to be enough.
So an exciting final in prospect, the experience and resilience
of Fuller versus the dynamic youthfulness of Soliman.
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29-Apr, Quarters:
Top four seeds all out in Ipswich
Quarter Finals night in the
Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open produced some surprising twists
and turns that might even have ramifications that go beyond the
event itself with the European Championships looming.
In an earlier round we had already lost the 2nd seed, and
tonight we lost the top seed, Arthur Gaskin, with a suspected
broken toe when he was clearly struggling against Patrick Rooney
who looked sharper than he had against Ben Ford in the last
round.
Then we lost the 3rd seed when Scotland’s Douglas Kempsell
retired when 2-1 down against Egyptian Youssef Soliman with a
cramped hamstring after 73mins on court.
Thankfully the other two pairings produced good, entertaining
squash that even managed to see their matches to completion.
Mark Fuller was too strong for Australian Matthew Hopkin
although Hopkin had staged a bit of a recovery to get to game
ball in the second only to lose it with a couple of cheap points
and never really threatened again.
And qualifier Kyle Finch’s run finally came to an end against an
extremely proficient performance from Sean Conroy. Although it
was the end of the tournament for Finch on this occasion, there
will undoubtedly be other more successful tournaments in the
future.
So as a result of the two retirements and the earlier results
the semis are wide open with the loss of all top four seeds. And
hopefully the injuries to Gaskin and Kempsell don’t impact on
their participation in the Europeans for Ireland and Scotland
respectively.
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28-Apr, Round One:
Finch and Rooney join seeds in quarters
 The
first round of the main draw produced a good mix of steady
squash, inventive squash, robust squash – with a couple of
surprises along the way to thoroughly entertain the Ipswich
audience.
Top seed and defending champion Arthur Gaskin had a
straightforward win in front of what he still thinks of as a
home crowd, although it is a few years since he was Head Pro at
the Ipswich Club.
In the quarters he will meet Patrick Rooney who probably
had the best squash match of the evening against Ben Ford,
dropping the first then finishing with a couple of very close
games.
Youssef Soliman of Egypt will meet Scot Douglas
Kempsell who played a blinder in the first, fell asleep in
the third and still won a reasonably comfortable match.
Matthew Hopkin of Australia will meet Mark Fuller in
the third quarter and the real surprise of the evening is that
Chris Fuller won’t be joining them.
Last year’s runner-up and 2nd seed, Chris went out in straight
games in the first match of the evening, beaten by the Wycliffe
boy Kyle Finch, the only qualifier to make it to the
quarters.
Finch ought to have been a bit tentative against his much more
experienced opponent, but certainly didn’t act like it. He
showed no inhibition at all to produce attacking, inventive
squash and played the high risk shots that, more often than not,
came off.
Tomorrow’s audience will be hoping for more of the same against
the other Irishman left in the draw, Sean Conroy.
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Qualifying complete in Ipswich
The battle for the final qualification slots in the main draw
produced some entertaining and closely contested matches.
Phil Nightingale was first man through with an hour long
tussle with Julian Tomlinson. Nightingale got the first two
games and Tomlinson just had to work too hard to square the
match, losing 11-3 in the fifth.
 Kyle
Finch and Joeri Hapers produced another hugely
entertaining 3-2, full of the fast and furious hitting and
retrieving the youngsters are renowned for.
It was Hapers who took the early 2-1 lead but Finch fought back
with the more controlled squash to take the match and secure a
place in the main draw against 2nd seed Chris Fuller.
The other two to make the main draw were Claudio Pinto
and Bradley Masters.
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